Real Madrid: PSG game a great measuring stick for Eder Militao

Sergio Ramos must serve a suspension, so Eder Militao will start at center back for Real Madrid against PSG. Here’s why all eyes need to be on him.

In Luka Jovic, Rodrygo Goes, and Eder Militao, Real Madrid signed three extremely talented rising stars this summer who are coming off of breakout campaigns at their clubs. But of those three players, Militao will be the one to face the first real test of his career.

That’s because starting center back and team captain Sergio Ramos will be unable to play in Real’s Champions League opener due to a suspension. Militao must step in and start across from another world-class center back in Raphael Varane, which means that PSG will target Militao as the potential weak link to test.

Although Militao is just 21 and an unknown commodity, he was one of the best defenders in the Champions League last year for Porto. Quietly, Porto were one of the tournament’s best teams, as, like Barcelona, they took eventual champions Liverpool to the brink during their matchup in the knockout stages.

So Militao is no slouch in defense. The issue is that this is his first match playing under Zinedine Zidane in the Champions League with the pressure that comes with wearing a Real Madrid kit. Furthermore, he’ll be going up against either Edinson Cavani or Mauro Icardi or even both. And with Kylian Mbappe still possibly healthy enough to play, that’s another elite attacker for Militao to worry about.

Real Madrid paid 50 million euros to Porto for Militao knowing that he has the quality to be a world-class center back. That potential will be put to the ultimate test by PSG’s attack, but the fact that he won’t have to play Neymar – or potentially even Mbappe and Cavani – means that this Herculean task becomes more achievable.

How Militao holds up in comparison to the rest of the back four will be a huge storyline for Real, because this game against PSG can show Zidane how ready Militao is to face the best of the best. If Militao can acquit himself well in Ramos’s stead, that could enable Zidane to trust him more later in the campaign, especially if something were to happen to Varane or Ramos. (When it comes to Ramos, future suspensions are well within the realm of possibilities due to his endearingly aggressive style of play.)

Last season, Militao averaged 2.6 tackles per game and 4.4 clearances per game in the Champions League, per WhoScored.com, which are numbers that bode well for how he performs on Wednesday against PSG.

There’s no doubt that Los Blancos fans are excited for what young players like Rodrygo, Jovic, and Militao can do in 2019-2020, especially with their eyes also on prospects outside the club like Martin Odegaard and Takefusa Kubo. But given that Militao is the third-choice center back and a critical part of the future puzzle at the back, his ability to quiet PSG’s star-studded attack will be analyzed closely.

It shouldn’t be over-analyzed, but fans should be excited to see how the 21-year-old performs. This is a huge opportunity to shine, and Real Madrid likely have a great deal of faith in the Brazilian’s qualities as a defender.