Real Madrid get their Champions League campaign started against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night, but they have taken a weakened squad over to France.
It’s been a mixed start to the campaign for Zinedine Zidane’s men as they’ve picked up eight points from their opening four La Liga games.
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Their focus now switches to the Champions League, but as shown in the graphic below, there are a number of crucial absentees from the squad this week due to suspension and injuries.
Another one ??
Marcelo is set to be one of seven Real Madrid first-team players to miss the Champions League clash against PSG on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/KDOo6nSHnH
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 16, 2019
Isco, Luka Modric, Marcelo, Federico Valverde and Marco Asensio all miss out due to injury while defensive duo Sergio Ramos and Nacho are suspended.
With that in mind, there will be several changes to Zidane’s starting line-up against PSG, with the squad confirmed below in the club’s tweet.
Given the absentees noted above, it’s expected that summer signings Eder Militao and Ferland Mendy will get the nod in defence while the midfield is looking particularly thin with Toni Kroos, Casemiro and James Rodriguez the only ones named.
Naturally, others can drop back a bit deeper and try to fill those voids, but it’s a far from ideal scenario for Zidane and Real Madrid to be facing such a selection headache so early in the season.
Fortunately for them, PSG are also without a number of key stars too as Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani are injured while Neymar is suspended, as per ESPN.
In turn, there are countless absentees on both sides which is perhaps a shame for the neutral as it would certainly have made for an entertaining clash if the European giants were both at full strength for what is one of the glamour ties in the Champions League group stage.
??? Our 19-man squad for the trip to Paris!#RMUCL | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/KKiJ6bJB7c
— Real Madrid C.F. ???? (@realmadriden) September 17, 2019
