Ahead of Liverpool clash, Real Madrid crisis, low blow for Modric and Kroos

With Aurèlian Tchouameni, Dani Carvajal and David Alaba returning to the squad for Thursday's replay against Valencia in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final, Carlo Ancelotti will once again have a wide range of players available for a crucial stretch of the season, with the Clásico in the Copa looming on the horizon, but with several league commitments, the Club World Cup and the Champions League in between.

If we combine the fact that Modric and Kroos are very old, that their contracts are up and that they are not well, with the fact that Camavinga is currently irreplaceable, whether at left-back or as a defensive midfielder, and that Dani Ceballos is almost indispensable, Ancelotti would have to consider whether he should openly, at least for now, oscillate between the Croatian and the German for the eleven, in addition to Tchouameni, in order to find accompaniment for Ceballos and Camavinga.

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But beyond the circumstantial, if Ceballos renews in the coming days, there is a capital issue for Madrid and that with the recovery of the former Monaco player enters directly into Madrid's line of preference: to make Tchouameni and Camavinga work together. Normally the two players, who are friends, have not complemented each other well on the pitch, for various reasons, but Madrid, who have committed to them for the future, have their lives at stake in changing that dysfunction.

Kroos and Modric far from their best performance

It hasn't worked because Tchouameni is an expert recuperator, an axis that links lines, a pivot, and it is precisely there where Camavinga has shown himself to be intractable. Better than Kroos or Valverde, the former Rennes man is relevant in that position because he has a better outlet for the ball than his compatriot, cuts more than the other three and is agile and quick in his distribution and passing. That said, Real Madrid's gain would be to build with the two Frenchmen a double pivot that fixes lines and launches them, capable of an enormous margin of mobility, with the ability to retreat and arrive, a double box to box specialist in recovery and, at the same time, in distribution and suffocation in the centre of the opponents' creative machines. That is the challenge, which is not simple, but with time and confidence it is feasible, after all, the promise of it working is enormous, especially with a view to the tie against Liverpool and the subsequent game against Barcelona.