3 non-negotiable starters for Real Madrid for their AEK Athens clash
Real Madrid face AEK Athens on Wednesday night in the hopes of making it four wins out of four matches in the Champions League this season. Real Madrid have looked nervy at times, but in most of their games they have performed quite well, especially as of late. It just looks like this Jose Mourinho side has finally found the correct starting eleven, as well as the right profiles that they need to sustain a winning streak.
Having played most of his starters for the game against Racing Santander on the weekend, Mourinho is probably expected to make a few changes during this game, because of the fact that Real Madrid also face Valencia on Saturday, which is just a couple of days after this game. That is exactly why it is expected that some of Real Madrid's bench options will get a nod to start the game against AEK, and it remains to be seen which ones those are.
3 non-negotiable starters for Real Madrid for their AEK Athens clash
Endrick
Endrick has not started a single Real Madrid match since the win over Sevilla a couple of weeks ago. Even before that game, there was no start for Endrick all season long, and hopefully this is what changes on Wednesday evening.
Yan Diomande is in brilliant form at the moment, and he should definitely start for Real Madrid. Everyone knows Vinísses Junior is also going to play on the left. Kylian Mbappé, on the other hand, has played most of Real Madrid's games, and he has played the full match in most, if not all, of those fixtures. Letting him have some rest against AEK would be a very good idea for Mourinho's side.
That is not to say he cannot come on in the second half, but it is probably for the best to have him on the bench for the midweek game in Greece. Whether Mourinho actually does that or not is a completely different topic, but Endrick also deserves his start for Real Madrid. It would be nice to see him play at striker after a very long time.
Alvaro Carreras
Real Madrid's newest signing, Marc Cucurella, has been in fantastic form in these last couple of weeks, as he has made the left-back spot completely his own this season. However, Alvaro Carreras has also had a couple of good performances here and there. Judging by how much Cucurella has played this season, it is probably for the best that Carreras takes his place in the starting eleven for the game on Wednesday night.
It is expected that Cucurella will come back to the eleven during the Valencia game, which is why it makes perfect sense to rotate and play another impressive left-back who can certainly get the job done against the Greek side.
Antonio Rüdiger
Real Madrid's centre-back partnership has been almost perfect this season. Ibrahima Konate has been very good, and Dean Huijsen looks like a revived man. Starting Antonio Rüdiger for one of those two centre-backs, though, looks like a good move.
These two have played a lot together, so it might be worth giving at least one of them a little bit of rest before they play the match against Valencia on Saturday. Rüdiger is still good enough to play for Real Madrid, and he will be able to get the job done against AEK Athens.
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