Madrid’s Defensive Rubik’s Cube: Injuries Force Real Madrid’s Backline Shuffle vs Girona
30 November 2025
Injury blows on the eve of Girona clash
A defensive riddle traps Alonso!
Xabi Alonso, Real Madrid’s coach, received another setback hours before facing Girona today, in the 14th round of La Liga.
Journalist Miguel Ángel Díaz, posting on X, stated that Raúl Asensio will not travel to Girona and has joined the list of absentees that already includes Dani Carvajal and David Alaba.
Alonso has wrestled with a fixture-by-fixture defensive puzzle this season, having been forced to use 12 different backlines across 18 games due to recurring injuries in the back four, all while seeking stability amid constant shifts.
According to AS, Real Madrid’s defense even produced a rarely seen lineup in Athens against Olympiakos, a scenario that has recurred in almost every match since the season began.
The newspaper added that ongoing heart-of-defense injuries prevent Alonso from stabilizing a four-man line to shield Courtois, to the point that the most-used lineup featured Valverde in an unconventional right-back role.
AS notes another back four—Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, and Carreras—appeared early against Real Sociedad and in the derby, with them playing the vast majority of minutes against Marseille after the team captain came on for the injured Trent in the fifth minute.
“A clear vision and ongoing tweaks,”
In the season’s opening against Osasuna, then in the next two home games versus Mallorca and Marseille, Alonso’s preferred four-man unit appeared but could not be anchored due to injuries, forcing shifts and reshuffles throughout the campaign.
In the Clasico, Alonso was able to rely on a familiar back four—Valverde, Militao, Alaba and Carreras—granting some continuity in a match notorious for its defensive demands.
The Spaniards’ press has noted that this quartet had previously been assembled in matches against Villarreal and was later deployed against Valencia and Liverpool, becoming the back line that played the most minutes in just four games overall this season.
Excluding the right side, Militao, Alaba, and Carreras started as the base in 9 of 18 matches this campaign, forming the only real thread of consistency in a defense that has suffered the most from injuries.
Caption: Real Madrid’s backline has been a moving target all season as injuries bite.
"Relying on continuity is hard when one-half of your spine keeps changing,” as one columnist cheekily noted.
Despite the chaos, Alonso continues to piece together a functional unit, hoping a string of healthy weeks could finally stabilize Madrid’s defense—because a clean sheet would be nice, a win even nicer, and a miracle would be a fully intact back four.
Punchline 1: If defending were a sport, Madrid would have won the league by now—just missing the sport's biggest prize: a consistent back line.
Punchline 2: Alonso’s defense is like a season-long jigsaw: every piece is important, none fit for long, and the box lid keeps changing shape.
