Little by little, Real Madrid is recovering players to face the return leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League against Atlético Madrid. Courtois and Rüdiger trained with the group yesterday after missing the last match against Rayo Vallecano, and after missing the first leg, Bellingham is now available. However, Ancelotti keeps a trump card up his sleeve.

Carvajal, a leader for Ancelotti

This refers to Dani Carvajal, who is still in the midst of a long recovery process after tearing his knee on October 5 during a completely accidental action in the final minutes of the match against Villarreal. He will by no means be available to face Atlético Madrid. But, as revealed by ‘MARCA’, Ancelotti wants him close to the group.

Alongside Modric, Carvajal is the only survivor left from the first team that Ancelotti coached when he started training Real Madrid in the 2013-2014 season. At that time, Carvajal had returned from a loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen and, a few months later, he conquered Real Madrid’s Tenth Champions League.

The importance of Carvajal in Real Madrid

More than 10 years later, he has become one of the most important players for Real Madrid. His influence in the locker room is clear, and Ancelotti is the first to acknowledge it: “We lost him as a player for a few months, but not as a leader in the locker room because he will be here and work with us,” the Italian coach confessed some time ago.

During these months he has been injured, Real Madrid has suffered significantly from the absence of Carvajal. Lucas Vázquez was the one who took his place, and on some occasions, Asensio filled in at right-back. But now, fully recovered from his physical issues, it will be Fede Valverde who returns to his position against Atlético Madrid.