How Real Madrid could line up against Getafe

10:26am on Monday 8th February 2021
By Nicholas Hughes

Zinedine Zidane’s bid to continue as Real Madrid manager will get a whole lot tougher with his squad down to bare bones as they prepare to take on Getafe on Tuesday night.

Their unavailable list makes a pretty line-up in itself: Eden Hazard, Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal, Fede Valverde, Isco and Eder Militao are among the injured contingent while Toni Kroos will miss through suspension.

Zidane won’t have either of his right backs in Carvajal or Alvaro Odriozola to choose from, meaning one of Ferland Mendy and Marcelo will likely have to deputise on the right – and even the latter hasn’t started a league game since December.

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Nacho Fernandez and Raphael Varane are the only fit centre-backs, and similarly Casemiro and Luka Modric will play in midfield with no other options available.

Marco Asensio is likely to be forced to drop into midfield out of necessity, which would leave Karim Benzema to be partnered by Mariano and Vinicius Junior in the front three.

Either that, or perhaps Zidane may be inclined to adjust the tactic slightly to become more of a 4-2-3-1.

In that, Benzema could play just behind Mariano as a no.10 with Asensio and Vinicius on the flanks.

The Galacticos had six players on the bench for their win over Huesca on the weekend, and two of those were goalkeepers.

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With two players from that game now unavailable and no returns expected from any of the injured crew, the bench will be even more depleted, unless Zidane populates it with youth players.

It will be a mammoth task for Madrid, but they can take confidence from the fact that Getafe have only won twice in their last eight games, conceding eight goals in the last three as they have slipped to 13th on the table.

Zidane and his staff will desperate for the players to get through this match unscathed and will hope to bring some players back ahead of Valencia’s visit on the weekend.