Julen Lopetegui has key decisions to make all across the pitch for the visit of Barcelona on Saturday, perhaps the most important of which coming in goal.
Thibaut Courtois joined Real Madrid from Chelsea in August and after starting on the bench in the opening two matches of the season has become the club’s first-choice shot stopper at the expense of Keylor Navas.
The Costa Rica international has not featured since the 1-0 defeat to CSKA Moscow on 2 October but returned to the starting XI for the must-win Champions League tie against Viktoria Plzen, having also played against AS Roma in the opening group match.
As the regular first-choice in La Liga, Courtois would appear to be favourite to retain his place for the first Clasico of the season.
However, the Belgium international has drawn criticism for his role in Saturday afternoon’s defeat to Levante; hesitant to rush out of his goal before he was easily rounded by Jose Luis Morales who went onto score his side’s opener.
Real have endured their worst start to a season in 17 years and have been woefully short of goals ahead of their trip to the Camp Nou, suffering the longest goal drought in their 117 history before Marcelo’s strike on Saturday.
They have been thrown a lifeline of sorts with Lionel Messi ruled out with a fractured arm, with defeat simply not an option Lopetegui.
