Toni Kroos and Luka Modric have both missed about three weeks with leg injuries suffered in the first leg match against PSG at home. Now with the two Real Madrid midfielders back in training, will they feature in the starting lineup Tuesday?
Whether the two game-changing midfielders play against Paris Saint-Germain in the crucial round of 16, second leg Tuesday will come down to the decision of the manager, Zinedine Zidane.
Both Luka and Toni returned to training with the full team Sunday just a day before they departed for the French capital Monday afternoon. But is one full training session and a walkthrough session enough for them to be ready to face the best team in France Tuesday night?
That decision will fall upon Zizou and his staff to make.
It seems that the French manager has been planning for Modric and Kroos to not play in the match, however, there is still a good chance they could feature. Saturday against Getafe, Zidane rested Mateo Kovacic and Marco Asensio substituting both in with less than 20 minutes to play and the match already decided.
The biggest question Zidane should ask himself when deciding whether or not these two crucial players should start is how much of an impact will their playing in this match have for the rest of the season?
While the extent of the initial injuries is unknown, it begs the question of could one of these two guys reinjure themselves? Or, is it better to play Kovacic and Asensio since they have been playing well recently?
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In my opinion, I think it would be best to play both Luka and Toni simply because of the incredible talent and leadership ability both of these guys possess. Yes they haven’t played in nearly a month and I know there is a chance they get reinjured, but what is the point in not playing them in this huge match?
I said this season was a complete wash for Real Madrid after their Copa Del Rey loss against Leganes; now, it seems that the Champions League is the last competition Real has to fight for.
If the first leg is anything to go by, Kroos and Modric are the lifeblood of building up the Real Madrid attack and controlling the match in the middle of the park. While Mateo has been impressive in his holding midfield duties, he isn’t quite to the prestige of the German World Cup winner.
The only thing I could see causing Zidane conflict would be recent history showing that it might not be the best decision to start players coming off of injury in a big match.
When Rafa Benitez was in charge, he decided to play several players coming off of injury against FC Barcelona and saw his team get beaten down 4-0. Zizou may be fearful of that same thing happening on Tuesday night.
Next: Player ratings from Real Madrid’s 3-1 win against Getafe
Whatever the final decision is from the manager, he has options which is comforting to us fans. While I think we can all agree that we want to see both Luka and Toni in the starting XI, if Zinedine doesn’t feel like they can be at their best in this match, then Mateo and Marco are more than capable of performing at a high level.
It should be very interesting to see what Zizou’s final decision is.