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La Liga Real Madrid’s new project under Xabi Alonso is proving to be much more turbulent than anyone could have predicted. Just over six months into his tenure, Alonso has faced a series of ‘finals’ to save his job, all while having to choose from a limited group of players due to injury. For the loss against Manchester City in the Champions League last week, Alonso had eight first-team players unavailable. Against Alaves in La Liga on Sunday, when Rodrygo’s late winner gave the coach a reprieve, it was nine. Tonight, against third-tier Talavera de la Reina in the Copa del Rey, it will be six. Advertisement If this sounds familiar to those who follow Madrid, that’s because it is. Just over a year ago, The Athletic published a detailed report on the number of injuries the team then managed by Carlo Ancelotti had suffered and the tensions it had caused behind the scenes. Here, we lay out just how it has impacted their start to the season. Madrid currently have six players out through injury, including nearly all of Alonso’s first-choice defence. Across the squad, only 10 players have not missed a match due to an injury sustained this season (Jude Bellingham and Endrick have both been absent in games due to existing problems/relapses during recovery from these issues). Eder Militao sustained a hamstring injury earlier this month in the 2-0 home defeat by Celta Vigo that really increased the pressure on Alonso. Madrid fear the Brazil centre-back is facing a three-to-four-month lay-off. Club captain Dani Carvajal, meanwhile, is not expected to play again this year after undergoing surgery on his right knee in October. Trent Alexander-Arnold was expected to be out for two months when he suffered a left quad injury this month, and David Alaba has been out with a muscular injury since October. Ferland Mendy is out with yet another muscle injury, while Eduardo Camavinga has not returned since suffering an ankle sprain earlier this month. The injury crisis began in November, when Madrid travelled to Olympiacos in the Champions League and narrowly won 4-3 with a makeshift defence. Goalkeeper Andrii Lunin, Alexander-Arnold and academy graduate Raul Asencio had to play in place of the injured Thibaut Courtois, Carvajal and Militao. Starting left-back Alvaro Carreras moved to centre-back to replace Antonio Rudiger, who was also sidelined, while Ferland Mendy returned after spending 214 days injured. Kylian Mbappe’s four-goal performance saved them. For the 2-1 defeat by City, they were without their two right-backs, Carvajal and Alexander-Arnold; their best centre-back, Militao; €58million summer signing Dean Huijsen; and their star player Mbappe, who made the squad but was an unused substitute after suffering a fractured finger along with muscular and knee discomfort. Mendy, Camavinga and Alaba were also out for that game. Advertisement With Alonso then fighting for his job as Madrid visited Alaves, he was forced to do so without his two right-backs and any of his three left-backs — Mendy’s injury was compounded by red cards shown to Carreras and Fran Garcia in the previous league loss against Celta Vigo. Madrid recovered Mbappe and Huijsen but still did not have Militao, Camavinga and Alaba, while striker Endrick was also missing through suspension after his red card from the bench against Celta. It led to Alonso giving 19-year-old Victor Valdepenas his senior debut at left-back. Alonso and his staff accept the injuries as part of the game. That is why they have been keen on rotating as much as possible from the outset, just as they did at Bayer Leverkusen — although that does not seem to have alleviated the situation. A coaching-staff source told The Athletic that Huijsen was a big miss in terms of their build-up play in the five matches he missed through injury. That voice also pointed to the makeshift defence Alonso used against Olympiacos. They argued that Madrid would not usually have conceded three goals to a team like the Greek Super League side. Madrid are no strangers to an injury crisis — when The Athletic reported on those internal tensions over their personnel problems in November 2024, they had suffered 25 separate injuries in the first three months of that season. That article detailed how physical trainer Antonio Pintus had become a divisive figure behind the scenes, with some of his approaches considered to be old-fashioned. Pintus has taken on a new role as ‘performance manager’ this season, but decided to stay despite a secondary role. Alonso has given priority to his trusted physical trainer Ismael Camenforte instead, who previously worked for Barcelona and with Alonso in Germany. Advertisement In August, The Athletic reported on changes being made behind the scenes in the medical department to avoid another injury crisis. This was not a “revolution” as some media outlets in Spain suggested, however: Felipe Segura remained as their head of medical services, with two of his assistants leaving and two others arriving. Even so, the changes do not appear to have had the desired effect. Sources at Madrid’s training ground — who, like all those cited in this article, asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — point to the demanding nature of the side’s calendar as a reason for their injury problems. The side’s participation in the Club World Cup in the United States, for instance, only finished on July 9, with their 4-0 semi-final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. This, they argue, prevented them from carrying out an adequate pre-season. They only played August friendlies against relegated La Liga side Leganes in a behind-closed-doors game and against WSG Tirol in Austria. The previous summer, training-ground sources highlighted how damaging playing the UEFA Super Cup in Warsaw, Poland, had been, given it coincided with the same week a large group of international players returned from their holidays. Regardless of the current injury issues, Madrid are rarely active in January transfer windows. The last player they signed in that slot was Brahim Diaz in January 2019, who they added from Manchester City as his contract was due to expire in June and he was considered a market opportunity. There is also the factor of no spaces being available in the current first-team squad under La Liga rules, although this could change if Endrick, as expected, joins French side Lyon on a loan until the end of the season. The board do not believe there are any top players available in January. If those kinds of players were available, the board believes their price would be prohibitive. Senior sources have said there are solutions in case of emergency in Alonso’s squad and in the academy. Advertisement Valdepenas’ debut against Alaves was the first of Alonso’s tenure at Madrid. His performance proved convincing to those within the club, although there has been some noise after Alonso said that Alaves’ goal came from “his (Valdepenas’) only mistake”. Those at the academy had been disappointed by the lack of opportunity given to Madrid’s ‘canteranos’ — youth-team players — so far, but Alonso told his pre-match press conference yesterday that there would be more chances given to them. Centre-back Joan Martinez, 18, 21-year-old right-back David Jimenez, and 18-year-old midfielder Thiago Pitarch are among those who are seen as the most likely to play against Talavera. Mario Cortegana Santos is a Football Writer for The Athletic covering Real Madrid. He has followed Los Blancos since 2019 at Diario AS, Goal. com and MARCA. He usually appears on Gol TV and is a main collaborator in the You Tube show The Four Amigos Podcast. He has covered the EURO 2020 and Qatar 2022. Follow Mario on Twitter @Mario Cortegana