Real Madrid Vs. Liverpool Champions League Lineup: Ancelotti Makes Changes

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti will have to make changes to the starting line up when his team takes on Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday.

This is mainly down to injuries, with the Italian losing Vinicius Jr. for what MARCA believes will be up to a month after the club confirmed the knock at the turn of the week.

Furthermore, Ancelotti has had to face accusations of being negligent with the 24-year-old and mishandling his game time, which he fired back at during a prematch press conference on Tuesday.

In England this week, Ancelotti will revert to a 4-4-2 that proved so successful in 2023/2024 when Madrid won record-extending 15th and 36th UCL and La Liga crowns.

In that set up, wingers Vinicius and Rodrygo were fielded as a pair of strikers, but midfielder Jude Bellingham was an incredible goalscoring threat as a false 9 that came close to winning Spain's Pichichi award for the top domestic marksman.

Though Mbappe himself confirmed that he and Vinicius have a strong relationship, the Ballon d'Or runner up's absence means that the Frenchman can finally take up his preferred left flank while another winger in Brahim Diaz joins him up front on paper.

Arda Guler was mightily impressive in a 3-0 win over Leganes at the weekend, and deservedly keeps his berth on the right hand side of midfield.

In the center it is captain Luka Modric and Eduardo Camavinga, and while Bellingham might appear to be on the left, he should drift into the middle and look to net against a club he was heavily linked to ahead of his big money move to the Bernabeu from Borussia Dortmund in summer last year.

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Back in defense, the "best right back in the world" after Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez, as Ancelotti put it, keeps his place.

That's Fede Valverde of course, and he is joined by Raul Asencio, Toni Rudiger and Ferland Mendy in protecting Thibaut Courtois' goal.

After El Clasic, which it lost 4-0 to FC Barcelona in October but has since recovered from to have the chance to move within a point of its bitter rival at the La Liga summit, a showdown with 2018 and 2022 UCL final foes Liverpool - who lead both the Premier League and this competition's league phase - is the toughest test to date for Ancelotti's men in this campaign.

Real Madrid First XI Vs. Liverpool: Courtois; Mendy, Rudiger, Asencio, Valverde; Guler, Camavinga, Modric, Bellingham; Brahim, Mbappe