Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed Raphael Varane will play against Juventus in Turin tonight as he seeks to shore up his leaky defence.
Despite having a free scoring attacking unit – Los Blancos average three goals a game so far this season – they have come unstuck at the back. In La Liga alone, Real have conceded 16 goals, twice as many as Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid.
Sevilla and Rayo Vallecano both gave Los Blancos a scare in their last two league matches, coming from 3-0 to 3-2, before Ancelotti’s men secured victory in both games. And the 54-year-old boss wants his team to improve, starting with the game against the Italian champions.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the match, Ancelotti told reporters he would recall Varane and decide between Pepe and Sergio Ramos to partner him.
“We’ve been conceding too many goals and this is our problem. Everybody in the world knows how important the defensive work is. But we’ve scored 42 goals in 15 games, with an average of three goals a game,” he stated.
While urging his team to be defensively strong, he also called on them to secure qualification for the knock-out phase as soon as possible so they can focus their attentions back on La Liga.
He said: “We need to rotate our team to have the freshest players on the field, with the most physical strength, and I don’t think rotating is a problem although sometimes we lose our balance as a result and we need to improve this. It’s going to be an interesting game. Juventus have more difficulties than us in the group – this is a chance for us to seal qualification and the sooner you get that, the better.”
