How Real Madrid will deal with the loss of defender David Alaba: Tchouaméni, Mendy, Carvajal...

Real Madrid players Thibaut Courtois, Éder Militao and David Alaba have all suffered anterior cruciate knee ligament tears this season. “This has never happened to me before, three cruciate ligaments in just four months,” said Carlo Ancelotti. Madrid, for the moment, only have two centre-backs available (Antonio Rüdiger and Nacho).

Given the situation, it is practically certain that Madrid will turn to the transfer window to strengthen their squad for 2024. Ancelotti has already hinted at this in his press conference, with the news of Alaba’s injury. It remains to be seen whether Madrid opt for a high-profile signing, at whatever cost, or whether they opt for a centre-back to come in on loan, on a low-cost transfer, or even for free for the remaining months of the season.

Aurélien Tchouaméni

Three players can fill the gap, although one stands out above the other two: Aurélien Tchouaméni. Ancelotti revealed in a press conference that the France international is the priority if there is any experimentation to be done on the fly, as happened this season in the home game against Osasuna. The game ended 4-0, with no goals conceded. Against Tchouaméni is his inexperience in the position, as he has only played one match there out of 186 in his entire career. But he has the necessary traits: the ability to read the game, the stature and the ball-playing ability.

Ferland Mendy

Another option is Ferland Mendy. In his case, he is also slightly familiar with the position: he played two games there as a starter during the 2020-21 season under Zinedine Zidane. He played as a left centre-back in a formation that Zidane used to be able to play Marcelo and take advantage of his attacking qualities, but thus taking defensive work away from him. In those two games, the experiment worked to perfection: two 2-0 wins against Getafe and Eibar, with two clean sheets and the Frenchman even finding the net. Although this formula will depend, of course, on how Mendy is doing, since he also went off injured against Villarreal.

Carvajal at centre-back

Dani Carvajal is the other option, once he overcomes his own injury problems. In his case, his experience as a centre-back is not even a full match. He played in the position against Chelsea in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2021-22.

Minutes earlier Mendy had given way to Marcelo and Ancelotti was short of centre-backs, with Militao and Vallejo already injured. The only solution for Ancelotti was to bring on Lucas Vázquez in place of Nacho and to partner Carvajal with Alaba in the centre of defence. It was a risky experiment, especially considering that Carvajal is only 1.73m tall, not very tall by today’s standards (Militao is 1.86m; Rüdiger, 1.90m; and Alaba, 1.80m). But Madrid didn’t concede a goal in extra time and Karim Benzema scored the winner that sent Los Blancos through to the semi-finals of the competition.