Real Madrid star facing uphill battle to make starting XI for Champions League | OneFootball

“I am very well, confident and available for the final. I’m doing my part and the coach knows me very well,” Eder Militao explained after Real Madrid’s impressive victory over Alaves. While it looks like Thibaut Courtois will be back in the starting XI for the Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund, the Brazilian has things much harder.

Militao has started Real Madrid’s last four league games, as pointed out by Diario AS, and Carlo Ancelotti will start him in the remanining two as well, his only chances to convince the Italian he should be back in at Wembley. Los Blancos face Villarreal this weekend, which will see major rotations, but Militao will keep his place.

He is facing an uphill battle to keep his spot against Dortmund though. Nacho Fernandez, who has been the subject of doubts all season on the part of Carlo Ancelotti, with Aurelien Tchouameni often being used ahead of him at points. However after three strong performances against Manchester City and Bayern Munich, he is now very much the favourite to partner Antonio Rudiger as things stand.

It could well be Nacho’s last game for Real Madrid too, with doubts about whether he will continue at the club. Militao has shown some natural signs of rust in the four league games he has played, but has gradually gotten better. Even so, in their last two games against Granada and Alaves, he has not been tested much. Villarreal should be a much sterner test, with the Yellow Submarine still possessing an outside chance of European football.