Modern ACLs surgeries are 80-90% successful. Odds are in his favour. But theres also the higher risk of hurting the other knee due to the brain overcompensating.
🗣️ Carlo Ancelotti: "Eder Militao is BACK. He is not 100% match fit yet but he is back." pic.twitter.com/x6pZ7HYhAj— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) March 30, 2024 🚨⚪️ Éder Militão is back in Real Madrid squad after ACL injury, he will be available tomorrow.“He’s not at his best condition but he’s ready, we are very happy”, Carlo Ancelotti confirms. pic.twitter.com/G6HGC1ZfTb— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 30, 2024 Welcome back Mili He will be in the squad for upcoming game
Excellent news. He’ll make us stronger at the back with Rudiger for sure. I suspect it will be game management now until the 2nd leg v City where he’d be likely to start.
I remember when I heard about Militao's injury. Feels like ages ago. Glad he's back. No need to force his return at all, we are doing fine.
Agreed, though I think it would be a major advantage if we can get him the required match fitness for the away leg in Manchester. But perhaps that's too optimistic, let's see.
Eder needs to start and get match fit by then. That should be the focus right now, with Nacho an option B.
Do you think we should pull a Varane with Eder and sell him this summer? Honestly, with the ACL, brain-farts and inconsistency [I'm not talking about the game vs Villarreal alone] it seems like the right time to sell.
Talk about selling Militao is such an over-reaction about a guy who had ACL tear in August and is playing this season only because Alaba had an ACL injury as well. Pepe, Xavi, Felipe Luis, VVD, Sane etc to name a few had ACL injuries and it usually takes 9-12 months for players to reach pre-injury level. Militao is only 26. Varane actually played 10 years at RM. Series of knee injuries caused Varane's decline. Boniface who had a very good season at Leverkusen tore his ACL twice while playing in Belguim. It's not a career defining injury in this era. Jese was bit of a headcase with delusions of making it big in music industry and some RM fans who bemoan he missed out on superstardom due to ACL ignore the fact that he didn't even have football as a priority. Other serious players under 30 have well recovered from ACLs and went onto have good careers.
It's not the ACL I'm worried about; he's always been hot and cold. Against ManCity, Girona [4-2], Barcelona, etc. He's just like Rodrygo, you're either delighted or disappointed. He lacks the consistency to be a top-class defender like Rudiger. It's not a coincidence we've been defensively better since he's been out for most of the season.
Alaba was bashed here every week before his ACL injury despite RM having a good defensive record. We have looked solid defensively from 1st weekday onwards as we shifted to 4 midfield system with only one of Kroos/Modric starting. 4-0 City game Carlo played no DM with Kroos, Modric, Fede midfield and Benz, Vini and Rodrygo up front. We couldn't put two pass together nor had the legs to defend as a team like we did this season there. Even with prime Ramos or Pepe instead of Militao, we were gonna get thrashed with that system last year. Militao is already a CL winner out of 2 seasons as a starter. And he earned the starting spot with fantastic performances alongside Nacho in 2020-21 against Liverpool etc when Ramos and Varane were out.
Regardless, when we sold Varane we had an uninjured Militao, uninjured and younger Alaba, a younger Nacho, and probably had an eye toward signing Rudiger on a free the following year. We no longer have that, so it's a completely different situation.
I would be more concerned with Alaba given his age and history of injuries the last few years. With Nacho leaving, Alaba out a while, and Militao still recovering... adding a decent central defender seems like a priority. I think Tchouameni could end up playing some minutes at CB early next year because even if they add a Nacho replacement, they are down to 3 CBs if Alaba is out the first half of the year.
It's not even a real subject of discussion. It's one guy who has a history of wanting to buy other players and dump ours
I can argue that the reason we've done so well at the back this season is because the absence of Alaba (especially) and Militao. Militao had a stinker last night, cost Bellingham the pichichi and wrecked our defensive record but his performance is nothing new. We can romanticize him all he want, but the truth is he had these wild tendencies of becoming a clown at the back pre-injury.
I mean everyone was shitting on Nacho this season and then he does a fantastic job in the toughest games vs City and Bayern at his age. Overreaction in this forum after a bad game from a player retuning from ACL is not surprising. I wonder how Alaba won multiple CLs as CB and Militao already won 1 despite being ""clowns". Maybe other top teams have these flawless defenders because people don't watch them every week like RM players.