Real Madrid star centre-back David Alaba is the latest player in the squad to go down with a serious injury, having torn his anterior cruciate ligament in this weekend's 4-1 win over La Liga side Villarreal.
Prior to Alaba's injury, the team's best centre-back, Eder Militão, had torn his anterior cruciate ligament at the start of the season. Real Madrid now have three key players out with torn cruciate ligaments, while goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also suffered a serious injury early in the season.
Alaba's injuries Alaba tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
When Militão was injured, Real Madrid decided not to sign a new centre-back, much to the frustration of fans. They opted to continue with Antonio Rudiger, Nacho Fernandez and Alaba as their main trio, and to be honest, all three were disappointing.
Alaba is the best of the three centre-backs, so it stands to reason that Real Madrid should be desperate to make major signings at centre-back in his absence.
Footage of Alaba injured.
However, according to Marca's José Felix Dias, Real Madrid will not sign a new centre-back, contrary to initial reports that Carlo Ancelotti would push the Merenger team to sign a top-tier option.
Real Madrid seem confident that Nacho and Rudiger, along with defensive midfielder Aurelian Chumeni and right-back Danny Carvajal, are emergency options.
The problem is that this may not be good enough. Real Madrid can win the Champions League again with their right flank, but that defence could be torn apart by elite UCL teams like Manchester City, who beat them in the 2022 23 season.
Alaba possesses the ball.
On top of that, with the rise of Girona, La Liga is now more competitive and plays more attacking football than Jude Bellingham and his team at the Bernabeu.