Xabi Alonso's four forgotten players

Real Madrid resume their league campaign on Saturday in an emotional match for Xabi Alonso, who returns to his old stomping ground. It could also be a good opportunity for the manager to remember some of his players, those who are yet to feature in La Liga.

Aside from those sidelined through injury, whom he has been unable to call upon, the Tolosa-born coach has made his intentions clear regarding certain members of his squad who, despite being fit, have not enjoyed a single minute of competitive action.

This is the case for Fran Garcia, Raul Asencio, David Alaba and Andriy Lunin, all of whom have first-team squad numbers. The Ukrainian's situation is more expected. In fact, he didn't feature in the Club World Cup either and remains in Courtois' shadow.

The case of the left-back is stranger. With Mendy injured and no move for Carreras, Fran Garcia completed a more than notable pre-season tour. But with the start of La Liga and after the arrival of the former Benfica player, everything has turned bleak for the Ciudad Real native. He waits patiently, but it doesn't benefit him that his rival for the position cost 50 million euros and that he doesn't go away with the national team, as this could justify rotation in the position due to fatigue.

Asencio was also not expecting to be on zero minutes a month after the start of the official season. The defender was the revelation of last season, but a series of poor performances and unfortunate decisions on the pitch have caused him to fall out of favour with Alonso and also with De la Fuente, who even included him in a senior Spain squad. Asencio, in fact, is competing with Alaba... to be the fourth-choice centre-back. The Austrian has also not found his place, something he does have with Austria, where the competition is much less.

In the case of the two Spaniards, who have been training throughout the international break under the watchful eye of their coach, they will be hoping for some opportunities from this Saturday, considering that the Champions League is about to begin and the schedule is tightening for Los Blancos.

The ever-presents

On the opposite side to the 'forgotten' men, there are five players who form Xabi's praetorian guard. They are Courtois, Huijsen, Carreras, Tchouameni and Valverde. All of them have played every minute of the three league matches (270 minutes). Mbappe could also be added, having only missed four minutes of action.

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