Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed on Monday that his French striker Karim Benzema will start Tuesday in the Champions League match between Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine, to be prepared for the “El Clasico” match once morest Barcelona on Sunday.
Benzema will lead the royal club’s front line in the match scheduled for Tuesday in the fourth round of Group G competition in the Polish capital Warsaw, where Shakhtar will play its home matches due to the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Benzema missed Real’s victory on Saturday in the local league once morest Getafe 1-0, following participating in two matches following recovering from a thigh injury.
Ancelotti decided to rest Benzema because of what awaits the royal club this week, if he is in the Champions League, where he will qualify for the final price if he achieves his fourth victory in a row, or in the local league at the end of the week once morest his rival and partner in the lead, Barcelona.
Ancelotti is heading to rest his other Brazilian striker, Vinicius Junior, in Tuesday’s match, he hinted, saying, “Fini is one of the players that I have to evaluate because he played in all the matches. He played Saturday evening, then we traveled today (to Warsaw). We have to assess the situation.”
“Karim is in good shape,” he said. We are pretty sure that he will start once morest Shakhtar. He will play, like (German Toni) Kroos, (French Ferland) Mendy, who have also regained their activity and will play.”
Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin will be key once more among the three stages of Real once morest his country’s representative in the continental competition, but Ancelotti assured that Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is recovering from a sciatica injury and may return in the El Clasico match once morest Barcelona.
