The situation
First official game of the season for Madrid, and first big game for Carvajal (30 years old) . The player from Legan, who was the player in the squad that had the most physical setbacks in the preseason held in the United States, is in top form. And he has shown it with his great game in Helsinki, where the Whites won their fifth European Super Cup . Moreover, it could be said that the side’s performance had many similarities with the Madrid game: a very serious game in general, reliable in defense and knowing when to hurt Eintracht’s rearguard. He was only able to play a little over an hour in the preparation matches (64 minutes against Juventus), but that was more than enough for his cruising speed not to drop any gear. With Lucas Vázquez in the bedroom after his great preseason and after the good feelings he generated last year when Carvajal was indisposed, the man from Leganés has once again shown that if he is fit, he will play. Or at least in the important games, in which he has Ancelotti’s total confidence . The Italian coach, who acknowledged in Helsinki that he will seek to rotate his players more in this season that has already begun, knows that Carvajal is a player prone to injuries when he has a load of matches. This will cause him to have breaks in some games.
The details
In fact, to begin with, it is expected that on the first day of the League against Almería (this Sunday) it will be Lucas who will start. This already happened last season. If you look at the data for Carvajal and Lucas Vázquez, the two main candidates for the job, the numbers are clear. The first, the starter, played fewer games in the league than the theoretical substitute: Carvajal played 24 games and Lucas 29 . The point is that the league title was won by Madrid with quite a margin over their rivals, so there was no need to force any player. However, in the Champions League, where each game is life or death, Dani was present in 11 games(playing everything from the quarterfinals and in some of them giving a spectacular performance, as in the final against Liverpool). For his part, Lucas Vázquez only participated in eight. All this shows that, although the Galician is very much to Ancelotti’s liking for his dedication and his claw, when the moment of truth arrives, Carvajal plays.