Real Madrid missing eight players for clash with Alaves

Los Blancos will conclude their year with a trip to Alaves on Thursday evening, and Carlo Ancelotti's side will be bidding to move onto 45 points from 18 La Liga matches ahead of the winter break.

The capital giants will be without the services of a number of important players, though, including David Alaba, who picked up a serious knee problem in the 4-1 victory over Villarreal on Sunday.

Alaba's ACL injury will rule him out for the rest of the campaign, while Thibaut Courtois and Eder Militao are also on the sidelines with the same injuries.

Vinicius Junior, Eduardo Camavinga and Arda Guler remain unavailable for selection, while Dani Carvajal has not recovered from a calf problem in time for this contest.

Ferland Mendy is also missing from the squad list due to the injury that he picked up during the contest with Villarreal last time out.

Joselu had emerged as a doubt when he missed training on Wednesday due to illness, but the Spain international has been named in the squad, with his condition likely to be evaluated on Thursday morning before it is determined whether he can be involved.

The defensive absentees mean that Vinicius Tobias and Raul Asencio are in the squad, in addition to Nico Paz and Gonzalo Garcia.

Aurelien Tchouameni made his return from a broken foot against Villarreal last time out, and the France international could feature in the middle of the defence alongside Antonio Rudiger against Alaves, although it is more likely that Nacho will be brought in.

"He doesn't like to play as a centre-back, just like [Eduardo] Camavinga doesn't like to play as a full-back. In the emergency, he did very well. He knows that if there is an emergency, he will play there. But his future is as a midfielder, we all know that," Ancelotti said when questioned on Tchouameni.

The Real Madrid head coach also confirmed that Kepa Arrizabalaga would feature between the sticks against Alaves rather than Andriy Lunin.

"I don't have the idea of rotating goalkeepers, both are doing very well. Lunin has progressed a lot, he has shown a lot of security when he has played," Ancelotti added.

"And Kepa has maintained his level. When Kepa has returned, I would like to reward both of them. Tomorrow Kepa plays and then I'll choose one of the two for the rest of the season."

Real Madrid are second in the La Liga table, two points behind leaders Girona, who will head to Real Betis on Thursday evening looking for the win which would keep them top at the end of the year.

Real Madrid squad vs. Alaves:

Lunin, Kepa, Fran; Nacho, Vazquez, F Garcia, Rudiger, Tobias, Asencio; Bellingham, Kroos, Modric, Valverde, Tchouameni, Ceballos, Paz; Rodrygo, Joselu, Brahim, Gonzalo