Is Dani Carvajal a solution or a problem for Real Madrid at right-back?

Injuries are punishing Real Madrid this year, and the football Gods are being especially cruel on the defensive line. Ancelotti was already forced to leave Alaba in Madrid due to a right calf injury and also had to replace two of his defenders in the semifinal (a victory over Valencia): Militao and Lucas Vázquez. The Brazilian player was dizzy after getting a ball to the face in the second half; the right-back issue is one that will last a little longer.

Lucas suffered a sprained right ankle that could keep him out for around a month and a half. A setback that is going to demand the most from Carvajal in the coming weeks, in a part of the season in which Madrid is going to play for two trophies (the Spanish Super Cup and the Club World Cup) as well as make-or-break games in the three most important competitions (the Champions League, the League and the Copa del Rey).

The three options for Ancelotti at right-back

The injury to Lucas Vázquez (whose conversion to right-back started due to his teammate’s injury) could become an opportunity for Carvajal to consolidate his place in the XI and achieve the continuity he has not had over the last season and a half, ever since he came through his injury woes. This could potentially pose a problem for Ancelotti, who experimented a third time with the position against Villarreal, with Militão as the right-back, did not yield convincing results.

The man from Leganés, who turned 31 on the day of the semifinal, had a tough time with injuries in the 2020-21 season: he was out for more than 150 days and was only able to participate in 15 of the 52 games that Zidane’s team played. It was such a poor run that it even led him to even change his diet: “I am not eating gluten, no wheat, nor cow’s milk. It’s all plant milk. No red meat. In the end I just eat vegetables, fruit, fish and chicken”, he confessed in an interview with El Larguero in November 2021.

Carvajal’s poor run of games

Ancelotti has had no choice but to precisely manage Carvajal’s game time over the last season and a half. Last season, even with some physical problems (he had a period of one month off and another of three weeks) and after beating COVID, he regained his place in the starting lineup. Carvajal participated in 36 games (of 56) and started 29, but he only finished 16. The full-back finished the season as the eleventh player with the most minutes in the squad (2,598) yet failed to play three games in a row, something that he has not managed to do this season either, although admittedly a run was broken due to a substitution against Osasuna four minutes from time.

Without that change, he would have played five straight games. This season, he has been present in 20 of Madrid’s 25 games, starting 16 and completing 6. Without having yet reached the middle of the season, he has played 1,427 minutes, 55% of the amount he reached in all of the previous campaign. Lucas Vázquez’s injury and Odriozola’s insignificance in Ancelotti’s plans now put the youth player to the test. Dani Carvajal is either going to be a solution or a problem.