Ferland Mendy Injury: Will left back face Chelsea in the second leg?

Real Madrid left back Ferland Mendy has become one of the team’s most important players. Because there is no real alternative to him. As we saw in the first leg against Chelsea in which Los Blancos were lucky to escape with a 1-1 draw, Marcelo’s defensive deficiencies cannot even be hidden as a left wing back against strong attacking sides.

Mendy has definitely been missed over the past few games with an injury. Without Mendy, Los Blancos have only played well against Cadiz. There are other reasons for their poor play, but Mendy’s defensive greatness and ball-carrying in the attack have been missed.

Madridistas are nervously searching for updates regarding his status, and there seems to be conflicting information about Mendy’s chances of returning for the second leg of the Champions League semifinals at Stamford Bridge.

According to MARCA, Ferland Mendy, along with midfielder Fede Valverde, won’t be ready for the Saturday night game vs. Osasuna. Captain Sergio Ramos will. But even so, manager Zinedine Zidane reportedly still expects that both Mendy and Valverde will be able to play on Wednesday night at Chelsea.

Ferland Mendy is in doubt for Wednesday’s match at Chelsea

Unfortunately, Tati Mantovani tweeted that Mendy can be considered a “serious doubt” for the second leg. Goal.com’s Mario Cortegana also gave his thoughts on Mendy not practicing on Friday for Real Madrid, stating that it does not look good for him to play in London.

Can Mendy start without any minutes against Osasuna? That’s a real question. And the question becomes very important when you consider that Marcelo cannot play due to election duties. Right back Dani Carvajal is out for the season, so Nacho Fernandez would have to start at right back and not on the left, unless if Alvaro Odriozola starts. If Nacho starts on the right, then Castilla player Miguel Gutierrez would be in a tough spot against Chelsea.

Or Zidane could stick with a back three with Odriozola as one wing back and maybe Rodrygo Goes or Vinicius Junior as the other wing back. It is not ideal, but it may be preferable. We shall see.

But all of this shows how important Mendy is to the team. If he does not play against Chelsea, there will be a lot of uncertainty for Zidane to navigate in this must-win Champions League battle.