Real Madrid’s season is only two games old and Jose Mourinho is already thinking about the diary. Two wins from two, a 4-1 dismantling of Real Sociedad on the Bernabeu’s opening night, and now a first week of the campaign containing two fixtures. Something has to give — and according to a report in Spain, the man who benefits could be Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is in line for his first Real Madrid start of the season.
Per Madrid Universal, citing Defensa Central, Mourinho is weighing first starts of the campaign for both Alexander-Arnold and Brahim Diaz when newly promoted Malaga visit the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday. Neither has begun a La Liga game under the new manager. Both, for very different reasons, have a case.
Why a first Real Madrid start for Trent Alexander-Arnold makes sense
The right side of Madrid’s defence has been the most picked-over selection question of the summer, and Mourinho’s answer so far has been Denzel Dumfries. The Dutchman arrived from Inter and went straight into the XI against Espanyol, then kept the shirt against Real Sociedad. Alexander-Arnold, a year on from his move from Liverpool, has watched both from elsewhere.
That is not a crisis, but it is a story. We covered the moment Mourinho made his right-back call earlier this month, and the reasoning was straightforward: Dumfries offered the defensive certainty a Mourinho team is built on, and he offered it immediately.
The counter-argument has never gone away. Alexander-Arnold’s passing range from deep is a genuinely different weapon, and against a promoted side likely to sit in and defend the edge of its own box, a right-back who can break lines from 40 yards is arguably worth more than one who wins duels. The report suggests Mourinho’s staff see exactly that — a different profile for a different kind of afternoon.
Brahim Diaz has a reunion, but a harder route in
Brahim’s path back into the side is more awkward, because the obstacle in front of him is playing extremely well. Arda Guler has become Mourinho’s preferred option on the right flank, using it as a starting position before drifting inside, and there is currently no obvious argument for removing him.
The occasion, though, is loaded. Brahim left Malaga’s academy at fourteen for Manchester City, and has never hidden what the club means to him — he still runs a summer camp in the city. Dean Huijsen, another product of the same academy, faces the same reunion. Marca has framed Sunday as two boquerones going back to their roots.
Rotation is not optional for Mourinho
The bigger point is that Mourinho does not have a squad he can leave alone. Reporting from Mundo Deportivo after Thursday’s Valdebebas session listed seven absentees — Aurelien Tchouameni, Raul Asencio, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao, Rodrygo, Endrick and Thiago Pitarch — with Wednesday’s starters put through recovery work rather than full training.
Rodrygo and Mendy are long-term. Militao and Asencio are working their way back. That leaves Mourinho leaning on a smaller group than the summer’s six arrivals would suggest, and a Sunday 17:00 CEST kick-off against a promoted side is the natural place to spread the load before the Champions League league phase begins.
None of this is confirmed. Mourinho fine-tunes his XI on Friday morning, and Defensa Central’s report is a read on the manager’s thinking rather than a team sheet. But if Alexander-Arnold is ever going to be handed a platform to make his case, a home game against the newly promoted side, in a week where legs need saving, is about as good as it gets.
