Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed a comeback from injury for one of his first team stars and discussed his line up for a Champions League quarterfinals tie against Manchester City ahead of hosting Athletic Club at the Bernabeu in La Liga this weekend.
Eder Militao ruptured his ACL in the first installment of this fixture on Matchday 1, and Ancelotti revealed that the Brazilian will finally return to the fold more than seven months later amid giving an update on the overall state of his squad at a prematch press conference on Saturday.
“The team is fine. The international players have recovered well. We had a small problem with [Eduardo] Camavinga, but today he trained normally,” Ancelotti began.
“We have a good feeling for tomorrow’s game. We’re playing against a team that’s having a great season and is playing with great intensity. It has individual and organizational quality.
“[It’s] an important game that we go into with all the confidence in the world. Militao is back tomorrow, which is the most important news. He’s not 100%, because he still needs to play football, but he’s fine with the injury. That’s very good news for us. We’ve had the bad luck of [Thibaut] Courtois’ injury, but he’ll be back soon,” Ancelotti promised.
The revelation about Militao naturally led to questions as to whether he will start an April 9 last eight meeting against an outfit Ancelotti described as “one of the best teams in Europe” in City.
“We have to take it game by game. It may be that tomorrow I will give him minutes and we have time until the 9th to improve his condition,” Ancelotti first said on this.
“The knee is fine, he just needs football, getting used to playing on the big pitch again and with his teammates. He’s recovered very well.”
Then addressing the first leg more specifically, Ancelotti remarked that Militao’s inclusion from the get go is a case of “maybe not, maybe yes”.
“I’m not saying it’s 50%, it could be 70% no, and 30% yes, but Militao is very important. He helps us with a lot of things. It’s not completely out of the question.
“If he’s not there, there aren’t many options. If he is ruled out, Nacho or [Aurelien] Tchouameni will play [alongside Antonio Rudiger]. The doubt is there.”