Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti will make what appears to be seven personnel or tactical changes to his team when it faces Leganes in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The fixture is the first of three key meetings in eight days that Los Blancos have to contest, with a La Liga derby showdown against Atletico Madrid on Saturday and Manchester City in a Champions League playoffs first leg tie next Tuesday completing the rest of the pack.
At a prematch press conference in the Spanish capital, Ancelotti said that his team has to “prepare well and get to the next step of this competition”, which it has been accused of not prioritising in past years to focus on the league and Europe.
"[In] other years the Copa has given us a lot of joy," Ancelotti added.
Madrid is of course injury ravaged going into the business end of the campaign, with Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba both joining Eder Militao on the sick list to leave their team without a senior center back.
"Rudiger’s injury weighs heavily. Not only from set pieces. Leganes is a team that defends very well. It has had great results against Barca and Atletico. This morning we trained the set piece in this sense," Ancelotti revealed.
Because of a lack of men in the heart of the back line, Ancelotti will have to take a punt on a rookie pairing of Jacobo Ramon and 2024/2025 breakthrough star Raul Asencio helping to defend Andriy Lunin’s goal.
Right back has the same shortage problems meaning midfielder Fede Valverde is there, but at least Fran Garcia is a natural left back on the other flank.
Dani Ceballos continues to keep his place in a double pivot and is joined by captain Luka Modric.
On the left wing, Arda Guler gets a rare start as does Brahim Diaz on the right. This is mainly because Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe aren’t available, as Ancelotti already confirmed.
Up top then, it is the same winger pairing of strikers that won the treble last term in Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo.
Real Madrid Starting XI Vs. Leganes: Lunin; Fran, Jacobo, Asencio, Valverde; Modric, Ceballos; Arda, Brahim; Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr.