As we get set to enter the business end of the 2022/23 season, Real Madrid are still competing on three fronts.
Having already won the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup, Carlo Ancelotti’s men are in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, have all but made it through to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, and are second in La Liga.
With so much still on the line, Ancelotti will need his entire squad to step up and make a difference for the remainder of the campaign.
The midfield department is perhaps the most well-covered one at the Santiago Bernabeu, with as many as six senior options available at the manager’s disposal.
However, of late, Ancelotti has slowly begun to rotate the likes of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric much more frequently than in the past, putting the spotlight on younger individuals like Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni.
And, according to a report from AS, the Real Madrid manager is keen to see how the young French duo of Tchouameni and Camavinga perform when played together in the middle of the park.
Often it has been the case that Ancelotti has not started the French midfielders together. Furthermore, Tchouameni has been absent for a good chunk of the campaign since the World Cup break due to injury and illness.
During this time, Camavinga has stepped up and performed admirably in the defensive midfield position. The youngster has also shone brightly when asked to fill in as a makeshift left-back as well, while he can play as an interior midfielder too.
Now that Tchouameni is back and in contention to start against Atletico Madrid tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how the dynamics of the Real Madrid midfield change.
Only time will tell whether the manager decides to start both Tchouameni and Camavinga in midfield for the derby or opts for the experience of Kroos and Modric over the latter.