With the LaLiga season almost upon them, the Madrid defence has become José Mourinho’s most awkward problem. It is not a crisis — Los Blancos carry too much quality for that word to sit comfortably — but it is a genuine squeeze. Strip out the injured and the not-quite-ready and the Portuguese is left with three senior centre-backs to open a season that simply has to go better than the last one.
According to an AS report relayed by Madrid Universal, Éder Militão is still working his way back from the injury trouble that wrecked his previous campaign, while Raúl Asencio faces around six weeks out after a thigh problem in pre-season. That leaves Antonio Rüdiger, Dean Huijsen and summer signing Ibrahima Konaté as the only fit senior options in the middle for the opener against Espanyol.
What the Madrid defence looks like right now
On paper Mourinho has five recognised centre-backs. In practice he has three, and each comes with a caveat. Huijsen was Real Madrid’s most-used centre-back last season and is expected to shoulder a heavy load again, although a minor muscle issue kept him out of the first official match of the summer. Rüdiger, who spent much of last season managing knee problems, has looked closer to himself lately, coming through 45 minutes against Ferencváros before starting the win over Deportivo.
The biggest unknown is Konaté. The Frenchman arrived from Liverpool this summer and is still building his match fitness, with Sunday’s friendly against Schalke and the best part of a fortnight to sharpen up before the league gets going. Ask any Madridista what they would least like in mid-August and it is a new centre-back thrown straight in without a proper run-up.
Militão remains the one everyone is waiting on. Militão was back in training at Valdebebas this week, but AS make clear he is not yet ready to return to competitive action — a reminder that being back on the grass and being ready for a LaLiga opener are two very different things.
The calendar does Mourinho a favour
There is one piece of luck in all this. LaLiga gets under way this weekend with Alavés against Getafe, but Real Madrid will not play until the week after: Bernabéu Digital report that the club were granted a postponement of matchday one because several of their players went deep into the World Cup and had little time to rest. Espanyol, in other words, do not come around until the following weekend. Those extra days are worth more to a thin back line than any amount of reassurance from the training ground.
The cantera door swings open
A shortage at senior level tends to be an opportunity somewhere else, and the same AS report notes that academy defenders Joan Martínez and Mario Rivas have caught the eye during pre-season. Neither is being handed anything, but a squad list this stretched has a way of turning a promising summer into a bench place.
The knock-on runs into the market, too. Bernabéu Digital say Asencio holds the key to whether Mourinho gets the extra centre-back he asked for, with the club otherwise treating its window as closed. Madrid Universal go further, reporting via Defensa Central that the defender Mourinho wants is a left-footed centre-back — and that Asencio, already top of the list of players who could leave, cannot be moved on while he is injured.
None of which amounts to panic. Rüdiger, Huijsen and Konaté would be a strong pairing plus cover at most clubs in Europe, and Mourinho has that extra week to get all three properly up to speed. But a Mourinho side is built from the back, and the manager will know better than anyone how quickly three fit centre-backs becomes two. The Madrid defence has depth on paper. It just needs its bodies back.
