Ancelotti reveals Alaba's imminent return from injury and thanks Tchouameni for his sacrifice

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has finally confirmed that defender David Alaba, who has been missing for ages, is nearing his injury return.

 Madrid have not had the best start to the season by their standards. While they are still within a chance of repeating their incredible double from last season, they haven't been playing like champions.

Admittedly, their failing attack has not helped them one bit. The expectation was that with Kylian Mbappe arriving, Real Madrid would only be elevated to new levels. Unfortunately, this has not been the case.

While Real Madrid's defence has played well this season, it has not been at its full strength for a lot of the season. Injuries have not helped in this department.

According to Fabrizio Romano on X (formerly Twitter), Carlo Ancelotti has brought some brilliant injury news. He finally feels like David Alaba is close to his full return from injury.

In his own words, Ancelotti said: "David Alaba is finally close to returning! We are excited, we wait for him".

This indicates that Carlo Ancelotti is prepared to wait a little bit longer for Alaba. For fans, it is very easy to be overly excited and want to rush him back into the starting lineup. This will not be the case with Ancelotti, who is always prudent with such matters.

The expectation was that Alaba would arrive back from his injury halfway into the season. We are almost at that stage, so Ancelotti is excited to be nearing the point. However, he will not rush Alaba back into the starting lineup if he's not ready.

It also remains to be seen how Alaba's return from injury will alter Real Madrid's transfer plan for the January window, if at all. It certainly looked like Real Madrid had to invest in a new player or two for the backline, given their depleted options.

At least the centre-back pairing is close to full strength again. Now, the only concern for Real Madrid should be the right-back slot, which they plan to address anyway.

Meanwhile, Ancelotti spoke to the media before their game against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday. He was asked about Aurelien Tchouameni, and he thanked him for playing out of position. He said: "First of all, I would like to thank him for his commitment and his altruism. I appreciate it. He plays there without complaining and giving his best. He did very well against Atalanta and Girona and it is no coincidence that we won those two games with him. Considering that it is not his position, but he does it for the team. He is a fundamental pivot, one like few on the market, but we are in an emergency."

Speaking on the match vs Rayo Vallecano, he said, "It will be demanding, Rayo has always been difficult for us. They play well, intensely. But we are confident. The team has recovered well after another day of rest and we are going in with all the enthusiasm."

Ancelotti also spoke on rotations That's true, it's true. I can rotate if I have players but with a squad of 14-15... it's very complicated. And that's the reality. We have very young players who it's not always positive to put on the field, especially if the team isn't doing well. There's a lot of talk about Endrick, that he hasn't played much, that I don't give him minutes... blah blah blah blah blah blah, but you have to think that he's a very young player, who has to adapt, improve, learn and putting him on when the team isn't doing well can be counterproductive. Instead of helping him, it could hurt him. I have to think about all these things. But blah blah blah blah blah."

 On injuries to Mbappe and Camavinga Ancelotti said, "Kylian's situation is not serious, he won't be available tomorrow, but he will travel to Qatar and there we will evaluate the risk. Camavinga is fine. He will be available tomorrow."