Real Madrid will be without the services of Thibaut Courtois, Arda Guler, Ferland Mendy and Dani Ceballos for their opening match of the 2023-24 La Liga campaign against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday night.
Courtois is set to miss the entire season due to the ACL injury that he suffered during a training session on Thursday, while Guler is also facing an operation on a troublesome knee problem.
Mendy, meanwhile, is out of the contest due to a muscular problem, and Ceballos is expected to miss the opening weeks of the campaign due to a hamstring issue.
There are spots in the squad for new signings Jude Bellingham, Fran Garcia and Joselu, though, and Alvaro Odriozola is also in the selection despite the speculation surrounding his future.
Andriy Lunin is set to start between the sticks on Saturday, and head coach Carlo Ancelotti has thrown his support behind the goalkeeper ahead of the league contest.
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"We give all the confidence in the world to Lunin, who is a great goalkeeper. In the pre-season, he did well. Total confidence in him, we think he is a talent. What he lacks is what everyone lacks, the experience, but he will take it little by little," said the Italian during Friday's press conference.
"Emotionally it has not been a good day yesterday, we are sad on a personal level, it is an injury of an important player, but these things happen in football. We wish Courtois a speedy recovery.
"First thing I thought when Courtois got injured? That Lunin was going to play. We have to look ahead. I never worry about those who can't be in a game, we wanted to convey confidence to Lunin."
Real Madrid are set to sign another goalkeeper in the near future, with Sevilla's Bono believed to be emerging as the favourite, but Ancelotti has insisted that he has full confidence in Lunin.
"The confidence is total in Lunin and in the next few days we will see if we sign one more goalkeeper to the squad," he added.
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"We have time until the 31st, the goalkeepers behind Lunin have potential, but they are young. We will think about it. Fran [Gonzalez] is 17 years old [18], if we do sign someone we will do it for the squad depth, because we have confidence in Lunin."
Ancelotti also admitted that Guler could be forced to undergo an operation to address his knee issue.
"If he goes to the operating room, the recovery time is very short. Arda's problem is very small and I think he can be recovered very soon. I can't go into details for privacy," he said.
Real Madrid played four friendlies during their pre-season tour of the United States, beating AC Milan and Manchester United before losing to Barcelona and Juventus.
Real Madrid squad vs. Athletic Bilbao:
Lunin, Canizares, Fran; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Nacho, Odriozola, Vazquez, F Garcia, Rudiger; Bellingham, Kroos, Modric, Camavinga, Valverde, Tchouameni; Vinicius, Rodrygo, Brahim, Joselu
Matt Law
