After their 3-2 victory in the Etihad Stadium earlier this week, Real Madrid are clear favorites to progress beyond Manchester in the play-off round of the Champions League. The second stage of the draw takes place on Wednesday evening in the Santiago Bernabeu, and the defending champion will strive to end the track and book their place in the last 16 of the competition.
The victory of Real Madrid in Manchester was all the more impressive when they consider that they were without several starting defenders. Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba have suffered muscular injuries in recent weeks, which meant that they were not available, although Diario, as they have reported that they will both be fit enough to be admitted to the MatchDay team of Carlo Ancelotti for the second stage.
However, there is bad news for Ancelotti, and it is that he will not be able to address Lucas Vazquez, even though he is sure that the 33-year-old court was available.
In the days before the first stage in Manchester, Lucas was brought down with a hamstring injury, and this meant that he was unable to be called up the first stage. There was confidence that he would be in order for the return leg in the Bernabeu, but those beliefs have proven to be ambitious.
It means that Ancelotti will definitely start with Federico Valverde again, although this would probably have been the case, even if Lucas Fit was enough to be called up for the competition day team. The Uruguayan is considered more reliable in defense than his Spanish counterpart, although the loss of his presence in midfield is a blow.
It is still to be seen whether Real Madrid Lucas can recover for next weekend's home game against Girona. While things stand out, he is doubtful for that.
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