On Sunday night, Real Madrid can make it official and lose La Liga by failing to beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou, or they can save face in this nightmare of a 2025/26 season. Real Madrid will almost certainly lose the league even if they win on Sunday, but they can at least go down with a fight, even amidst insane levels of controversy after a brutal show down between star midfielders Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde on Thursday.
Alvaro Arbeloa is quickly realizing that, like Xabi Alonso before him, he stood no chance as the manager of Real Madrid. There are too many egoes and too many underperforming players to deal with, and while Arbeloa actually has a strong relationship with most of the stars like Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, it is the secondary players who are both playing terribly and causing problems who are the bane of his existence.
One of those players is Alvaro Carreras, who is beginning to look like a 50 million euro waste of space, with fans alarmed by the lack of football IQ he displays on the pitch and even in interviews. Carreras has joined his underperforming Spanish national team wannabes by sabotaging Arbeloa behind the scenes.
Fran Garcia is set to start vs. Barcelona
According to a report from MARCA, via Madrid Xtra, Alvaro Arbeloa is going to continue his decision to demote Carreras, who has been poor in recent months. With Ferland Mendy injured even more seriously, the Real Madrid manager is going to dip back into the Fran Garcia well, as he had been usin the Castilla product over Alvaro in a few games recently.
Arbeloa is reportedly going to reinsert Fran as the starting Real Madrid left back, putting him in another big test this Sunday night in El Clasico. Barcelona's main starter at right winger with Lamine Yamal injured is unclear, but it could be Marcus Rashford, who will be a good but doable test for Fran to face off against.
Even if Fran struggles, the Real Madrid boss will still prefer the former Rayo Vallecano star to Alvaro Carreras. Whereas Alvaro does not work hard, complains, and is showing a serious lack of intensity on defense in one on ones, Fran gives his all and busts his lungs for Real Madrid.
Also, Fran has never complained about a lack of minutes or thrown tantrums against any of his coaches. Starting Fran against league favorites Barcelona is a bold call, but it is the right one, especially to make a statement that there is a right way to do things.
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