After two encouraging games against Osasuna and Leganes, Real Madrid had another woeful performance in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday as they lost to Liverpool. With this defeat, the Merengues are placed 24th in the UCL table, having accumulated only 6 points from their 5 games up to now.
With this situation, the Merengues have a significant challenge on their hands to be able to advance to the next round of the competition. Their upcoming match is against Atalanta, another difficult team in Europe, and Los Blancos have 3 games in total to salvage their UCL campaign.
But this loss to Liverpool can end up damaging Real Madrid’s chances in the competition just beyond this defeat, and this match also saw one of their most consistent players of this season, Eduardo Camavinga, go out with an injury.
The Frenchman suffered a hamstring injury in the second half of the game, which is expected to keep him out of action for the next three weeks.
Camavinga was one of the few Real Madrid players who put up a fight in the match against Liverpool. In that game, he was the highest-rated player in a white shirt, and particularly stood out for his defensive contributions, making 3 clearances, 1 interception, and 4 tackles. He also won 7 of his 8 ground duels and his only air duel according to Sofascore.
He also had a significant offensive contribution, as he completed 26 of his 28 passes, recording a 98% success rate, and had two accurate long balls. He also had both of his 2 attempted dribbles successful and was one of the most proactive Real Madrid players on the pitch.
But these good performances were not limited to this game, as he has been the most consistent performer for the Merengues ever since his return from injury in the game against Lille.
In total, he has played 5 La Liga games this season, starting all of them, and playing 390 minutes in total. Although he has not been able to get on the scoresheet yet, he has 1 assist to his name.
But his influence is felt much more keenly deeper on the pitch, as he recovers 6.6 balls on average in every game. He also records 1 interception and 1.8 tackles in every game. While having the ball, he completes 88% of his passes. He also has an impressive 85% pass completion rate in the opposition area and also puts in 0.8 key passes on average each game.
There is no doubt that his absence will be keenly felt by the team in the upcoming matches, especially as Aurelien Tchouameni is also currently unavailable due to injury. Although the latter might make his recovery in time for the Getafe game, his form has also been quite shaky this season, and Camavinga has been the team’s best pivot so far this season.
For the Getafe game, Ancelotti might decide to put Valverde as the pivot, especially as Lucas Vazquez has returned from his injury, and also played some minutes against Liverpool. But it remains to be seen how the Italian will cope with the absence of such an important player.