What Is Real Madrid's Best Starting XI Right Now?
Real Madrid are still alive in both the Champions League and La Liga’s title race as we enter the final weeks of the 2014-15 season. It is vital for Carlo Ancelotti to know his best starting XI in order to confront the most important fixtures between now and the end of the campaign with confidence.
Ancelotti has shown little indication he's willing to switch from his favoured 4-3-3 formation—which, in theory, switches to a 4-4-2 out of possession—since the turn of the year. Madrid enjoyed some success with an outright 4-4-2 earlier in the campaign, such as the victory over Barcelona in the season’s first Clasico, but he now appears set on the former alignment.
And while the Italian recently stated, per Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC, that he will consider resting members of his regular front three of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo when appropriate, there seems little likelihood of him dropping one of them for Madrid’s biggest matches during the final stretch of the campaign.
These two things have been taken into account when compiling what we consider to be Real Madrid’s best starting XI right now.
Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas
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Iker Casillas has been booed by Real Madrid supporters this season and is clearly not the same goalkeeper of three to four years ago.
He is, however, still capable of excellent performances, as he demonstrated in the recent 2-0 win away to Rayo Vallecano.
Per FourFourTwo StatsZone, the home side mustered eight shots on target, including four from inside the penalty area. Casillas would have been expected to make most of the saves he did, but a couple of the efforts were of genuine high quality.
Keylor Navas is a fine goalkeeper, but at this moment of the campaign and despite the errors that have plagued him this season, Casillas remains Madrid’s best custodian.
Right-Back: Dani Carvajal
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Dani Carvajal shared right-back duties with Alvaro Arbeloa for much of the last season, but the Leganes native has made the position his own during the current campaign, starting 22 times in the league, per Soccerway.
The youth-team graduate has worked hard to earn himself a starting spot at the Bernabeu. He has even welcomed the competition that will come when Danilo joins the club from FC Porto this summer.
“I know that in Madrid we compete with the best,” he said in the wake of the win over Rayo Vallecano, relayed by Jen Evelyn of Inside Spanish Football. “That motivates me.”
With an attitude like that, it is no wonder that Carlo Ancelotti has made Carvajal a first-team regular.
Centre-Back: Pepe
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Pepe is the eldest of Real Madrid’s centre-backs and can be expected to lineup alongside Sergio Ramos in the centre of defence for the majority of their remaining matches this season.
Injuries to Pepe and Ramos have allowed Raphael Varane to start 14 times in La Liga since the turn of the year, per Soccerway, having done so just four times before Christmas. But the Frenchman has not taken full advantage of his opportunity to show that he is worthy of being picked ahead of either of them for the campaign’s final stretch.
Next season, it would make sense to transition towards a regular partnership of Varane and Ramos. For now, though, Pepe remains one of the club’s two best centre-backs.
Centre-Back: Sergio Ramos
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Carlo Ancelotti praised Sergio Ramos for the “personality and character” he brings to the side following the centre-back’s return from injury for the win over Levante in mid-March.
Those qualities are likely to be important during the final weeks of the season as Madrid seek to gain silverware domestically and in Europe.
Ramos is the club's longest-serving outfield player in the current squad. He moved to the Bernabeu from Sevilla almost 10 years ago and has become an emblematic figure during his time in the capital.
When fit, his place on the teamsheet is never in doubt.
Left-Back: Marcelo
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Marcelo is one of Real Madrid’s three most used players in La Liga this season. Per WhoScored.com, he has received 2,438 minutes of playing time.
Fabio Coentrao is the other left-back option in the squad but the Portuguese is expected to leave the club at the end of the season. He has been left out of recent selections, with Marca reporting that both he and Sami Khedira have been put on Carlo Ancelotti’s blacklist due to their impending departures.
Marcelo is not always the most defensively secure full-back, but his offensive capabilities make him a key part of the side. He is comfortable linking infield or going down the line to put a cross into the area, and he has an excellent understanding with Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Brazilian has provided six assists in La Liga and notched one goal and two assists in the Champions League so far this season.
Midfielder: Luka Modric
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Luka Modric has proved his importance to this Real Madrid side with his performances since returning from a serious thigh injury in mid-March.
The pint-sized Croatian schemer is a relatively unique player, combining excellent technical skills and passing range with an impressive energy and work rate and good awareness of his defensive responsibilities.
Those were a collection of attributes that Madrid had to go without during his time on the sidelines. Carlo Ancelotti admitted as much in the wake of the win over Levante upon Modric’s return to the side, saying that the team had missed “the quality" offered by the midfielder.
If fit, Modric will be one of the first names on the teamsheet between now and the end of the season.
Midfielder: Toni Kroos
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Toni Kroos took very little time to settle in Madrid following his summer move from Bayern Munich, immediately becoming a key component of Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
“He has aced his crash course in replacing Xabi Alonso,” Ancelotti admitted in an interview with Onda Cero (h/t Marca) last November. “He plays at pace, always picks the right pass, doesn’t lose the ball and wins back possession.”
So enamoured has the Italian been with Kroos that he has handed him more minutes (2,499) than all but Cristiano Ronaldo in La Liga so far this season, per Soccerway.
And the Germany international will continue to have a prominent role during the final weeks of the campaign.
Midfielder: James Rodriguez
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James Rodriguez is another player who has very quickly found a place for himself at the Bernabeu.
Per WhoScored, he is both Madrid’s fourth-highest scorer (with nine goals) and second-highest provider of assists (with nine) in La Liga so far this season. This, despite playing in a deeper midfield role than that to which he was previously accustomed.
He and Isco will compete for the final place in the midfield three during the remaining weeks of the campaign.
“I’m lucky to have both of them,” Carlo Ancelotti said in the build-up to the win away to Rayo, as per Manu Sainz of AS. “It’s a welcome problem.”
However, in a piece in El Pais earlier in April, Diego Torres wrote that many within the squad, including Ancelotti, Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos, prefer Rodriguez to Isco.
His ability to move the side forward with more pace and purpose than his Spanish counterpart is cited as the main reason for this preference. Ancelotti reportedly particularly likes that Rodriguez regularly moves the ball onward within one or two touches while displaying an exceptional appreciation of space.
And those attributes are likely to see him get the nod over Isco in the majority of the club’s most important matches between now and the end of the season.
Forward: Gareth Bale
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It would be fair to say that Gareth Bale is enduring a difficult second season in Madrid. He has regularly been the target of abuse from both the terraces and the local media, while his attacking output has dropped off significantly during the second half of the campaign.
However, Carlo Ancelotti has shown little indication he is willing the Welshman, despite the fact that 31 per cent of supporters polled in a recent survey by AS said that they would like to see him benched.
Bale also enjoys the support of president Florentino Perez. In a recent article in Marca (h/t ESPN FC), Jose Felix Diaz wrote that Perez and others in the Madrid boardroom consider the 25-year-old as a viable long-term replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo.
With such backing, it is highly likely that a player who scored the go-ahead goals in both the Copa del Rey and Champions League final victories of last season will be provided with an opportunity to make similarly important contributions in the final weeks of the current campaign.
Forward: Karim Benzema
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2014-15 seems to have been the season in which everyone associated with Real Madrid has finally realised the importance of Karim Benzema.
The 27-year-old ranks highly on the club's standings for both goals (15) and assists (9) this season, per WhoScored, but he also does a lot of work that goes unrecorded by such measures. His intelligent movement off the front and into the channels consistently creates space for his fellow forwards to exploit.
Javier Hernandez did a solid job of replicating what Benzema brings to the side in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Eibar, but the Frenchman nevertheless remains the clear first choice at centre-forward.
Forward: Cristiano Ronaldo
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It is simply impossible to drop a forward who has notched 46 goals in 36 appearances in league and Champions League play so far this season, per Soccerway, and over 300 goals since joining Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009.
There is never any doubt over Cristiano Ronaldo’s place in Carlo Ancelotti’s starting XI.
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