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New interim Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa has named his first squad without Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham for Wednesday’s Copa del Rey Round of 16 match against Albacete, with the French forward being rested to ensure full recovery from his knee injury after playing 20 minutes in Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup final defeat to Barcelona.
Arbeloa Omits Mbappe and Bellingham From First Real Madrid Squad Selection
Six Real Madrid players are unavailable due to fitness issues for the Copa del Rey fixture, with Mbappe, Rodrygo Goes, Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militao, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ferland Mendy all ruled out. Mbappe had been sidelined at the start of the year due to a knee injury that kept him out of matches against Real Betis in La Liga and Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semifinals.
The French forward’s recovery process was accelerated so he could be available against Barcelona on Sunday, but after playing 20 minutes in the 3-2 defeat in the Spanish Super Cup final, he will now be rested again to ensure a full recovery. This approach is designed to allow him to handle the second half of the season without setbacks, ruling him out of the Albacete encounter.
Beyond the injury-related absences, Arbeloa decided to leave four additional Real Madrid players out of Wednesday’s Copa del Rey match. Jude Bellingham, Thibaut Courtois, Alvaro Carreras and Aurelien Tchouameni all remained in Madrid and did not travel with the rest of the squad for the match against the second division opponents.
Arbeloa’s decision is tied to giving rest to some of his most important players, taking advantage of the fact that Albacete compete in Spain’s second division, while also creating opportunities for young academy players. Seven youth players were called up, all of whom Arbeloa knows well from his time coaching Real Madrid Castilla in Spain’s third division, including goalkeepers Fran Gonzalez and Sergio Mestre, defenders Joan Martinez and David Jimenez, and midfielders Manuel Angel, Cesar Palacios and Jorge Cestero.
Real Madrid’s projected starting lineup to face Albacete features Andriy Lunin in goal, with Daniel Carvajal, Raul Asencio, Dean Huijsen and Fran Garcia in defence, Federico Valverde, Dani Ceballos and Eduardo Camavinga in midfield, and an attacking trio of Arda Guler, Gonzalo Garcia and Vinicius Junior leading the line for the Copa del Rey encounter.
