One. That is the number.
Real Madrid host Inter Milan on Tuesday night at the Santiago Bernabeu to open their Champions League campaign, and Jose Mourinho has exactly one natural midfielder available. AS laid the whole thing out on Sunday.
Bernardo Silva is suspended, still paying for a red card picked up against Real Madrid last season. Eduardo Camavinga is banned too, carrying over a sending-off against Bayern Munich. Arda Guler is caught by the same punishment from that same night in Germany. Aurelien Tchouameni is injured. Thiago Pitarch is injured.
Which leaves Fede Valverde, on his own, against the Italian champions.
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Every fix is a patch
Mourinho has options in the loosest sense. Jude Bellingham could drop deeper, though the England international has spent the whole season operating high up the pitch and the Portuguese does not want him retreating from the edge of the box, where he actually hurts teams.
Trent Alexander-Arnold can shuffle inside. Dean Huijsen in midfield is on the table too, which would be a purely defensive answer to a structural problem. And if it comes to it, teenager Jorge Cestero makes a Champions League debut on the largest stage there is.
Improvising a double pivot against an Inter side raised on these nights is not a plan. It is a hope.
The worst possible week for a first real test
Madrid lost 1-0 at Real Betis on Friday, a first defeat after three straight Liga wins to start the season. Kylian Mbappe missed a late penalty. Mourinho told the room afterwards that his team deserved to win, then turned his attention to the officials.
In Madrid, Tuesday is already being framed as the genuine measuring stick for this 2026-2027 side, more than the trip to Seville ever was. Inter arrive in a very different mood, having come from 2-0 down to beat Napoli 3-2 on Saturday. Kick-off, 21:00.
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