Ancelotti’s Emergency! How Real Madrid wrecked their season in January!

Muhammad Butt

6 Feb 2025 12:45 GMT
6 min read

Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba — © IMAGO

Did Real Madrid wreck their chance at glory in January?

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Carlo Ancelotti's side are current top of La Liga, four points ahead of arch-rivals Barcelona. They also just qualified for the Copa del Rey semi-finals and will face Man City in the Champions League play-off to get into the round of 16.

When you look at it like that, things seem fine.

But dig a little deeper and you'll see that there's a storm coming. Real Madrid, the biggest club side in the world, does not have any fit senior centre-backs.

Not one.

Eder Militao is out with an ACL, his second in as many seasons. David Alaba had just returned to fitness from his own ACL injury and has suffered a thigh injury that will keep him out for a few weeks.

Antonio Rudiger has been the rock holding the Real Madrid defence together pretty much ever since he signed but now even he has gone down with a hamstring injury that will keep him out for 2-3 weeks.

"It is an emergency situation that we will deal with as best we can," said Carlo Ancelotti, but the truth is, this is a problem of Real Madrid's own making that was easily avoidable.

© IMAGO - Antonio Rudiger has been one of the world's best centre-backs over the last five years.

Real Madrid's terrible transfer window

Obviously no one can plan for injuries, but Madrid came into this season with just Rudiger, Militao and Alaba as recognised centre-backs. And given Militao and Alaba were either injured or coming off big injuries, this was a huge risk.

In the summer the club let the legendary squad player Nacho leave for Saudi Arabia without replacing him. The Spaniard had been a loyal servant for years and could play all across the defensive line. He was a key part of their recent successes and they just let him walk away without a proper replacement.

To be fair, Madrid did try to sign Leny Yoro, but got outbid by Man Utd.

© IMAGO - Leny Yoro chose Man Utd over Real Madrid.

Real Madrid's financial health is so solid because, for the most part, they have spent their money quite prudently and offloaded their ageing legends at the right time. So one understands their desire to not go over their valuation of Yoro, but given the aforementioned state of the club's centre-backs, he was a colossal need.

Okay you can spend untold millions to sign Kylian Mbappe (a free agent but his signing-on fee is accepted to be north of €100 million), a player you don't even need, but you won't push the boat out to secure one of the continent's most promising young centre-backs?

And then to reach January without Militao out again and still not sign a centre-back? A position you desperately need reinforcement in? Raul Asenscio has emerged from the youth team as a competent defender, but nothing special, and Aurelien Tchouameni has been playing out of position in defence too, but these should be temporary stopgaps.

It is absurd that a club of Madrid's financial power did not sign anyone to fill their hole at centre-back because it is so clearly one that could disrupt their entire season.

Trent Alexander-Arnold: The wrong-back for Real Madrid

What did Madrid do in January? Well, they tried to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold instead of just pick him up for free at the end of the season like everyone expects them to.

That would be the Trent Alexander-Arnold who is such a bad defender he made Diogo Dalot look like Prime Paolo Maldini.

At least the pursuit of Alexander-Arnold was Madrid trying to fill their right-back slot, where they lost starter and captain Dani Carvajal to an ACL. But that they were pursuing a player who cannot defend was just as baffling as not trying to sign a centre-back. Yeah okay he can ping it 70 yards onto a forward's big toe but he's as permeable as a sieve.

© IMAGO - Real Madrid want to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold on a free transfer in the summer.

No defence for Real Madrid

As much as Madrid's attack is a devastating sledgehammer, their success last season - winning La Liga and the Champions League - was built on their formidable defensive prowess and ability to slow games down through control in midfield.

Toni Kroos' retirement has robbed them of the latter and the injuries have devastated the former. They are now even more top-heavy than they were when they began the season and they were already too top-heavy then.

This is a fundamentally unbalanced side as we have seen in their resounding defeats to Liverpool and AC Milan or either of the two times they were absolutely dismantled by Barcelona, and that was with Rudiger marshalling the defence!

Real Madrid have the firepower to simply outscore weaker teams, but organised sides that set up smartly and counter-attack efficiently are going to find joy against their complete lack of a defensive wall in front of Thibaut Courtois.

Look at Espanyol's 1-0 win over Real Madrid a week ago. There's no chance that Carlos Romero's goal goes in with Rudiger and Carvajal on the pitch. But without them there was enough defensive weakness for Espanyol to punish.

Having not signed a centre-back or a right-back in January, it's a defensive weakness that could well wreck their season. Both in the short-term against the likes of Atlético Madrid and Man City, and even the medium term as they try to maintain their lead atop La Liga.