{"id":3410,"date":"2026-04-13T13:53:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/3410\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T13:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:53:15","slug":"arbeloa-considering-starting-real-madrid-academy-gem-over-23-year-old-star-vs-bayern-munich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/3410\/","title":{"rendered":"Arbeloa considering starting Real Madrid academy gem over 23-year-old star vs Bayern Munich"},"content":{"rendered":"

Real Madrid could be set for a major midfield shake-up ahead of their decisive Champions League clash against Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

According to Mario Cortegana via The Athletic<\/a>, manager Alvaro Arbeloa is seriously considering a surprise decision \u2013 starting academy talent Thiago Pitarch ahead of Eduardo Camavinga.<\/p>\n

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With Aurelien Tchouameni suspended<\/a> after accumulating yellow cards, the natural expectation was for Camavinga to step into the holding midfield role.<\/p>\n

In fact, he was already deployed there in the recent 1-1 draw against Girona.<\/p>\n

Camavinga did not do enough<\/p>\n

However, that performance has raised serious doubts internally<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Camavinga struggled to control the game, looked uncomfortable in the deeper role, and faced criticism for his positioning, particularly in the sequence that led to Girona\u2019s equaliser.<\/p>\n

As a result, the coaching staff are exploring alternatives and one of those is 18-year-old Pitarch, who could be handed a huge opportunity on one of the biggest stages.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pitarch will start ahead of Camavinga against Bayern Munich. (Photo by Angel Martinez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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The rest of the midfield structure appears more settled, with Jude Bellingham, Federico Valverde and Arda Guler are all expected to start, forming the core of Madrid\u2019s setup.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Camavinga\u2019s recent form has not helped his case.<\/p>\n

Once seen as a reliable option across multiple roles, he is now struggling to convince in a position that demands discipline and control.<\/p>\n

His difficulties against Girona have only intensified scrutiny at a crucial stage of the season.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, turning to Pitarch would signal a clear statement from the coaching staff, as he has delivered stable performances this season.<\/p>\n

Now, with a place in the semi-finals at stake, a lot depends on how Arbeloa sees his squad heading into what would be the most crucial game of his Real Madrid managerial career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real Madrid could be set for a major midfield shake-up ahead of their decisive Champions League clash against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2464,642,266,187,2080,640,84,91,82,2466,83,2465],"class_list":{"0":"post-3410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-madrid","8":"tag-arbeloa","9":"tag-arda-guler","10":"tag-bayern-munich","11":"tag-champions-league","12":"tag-eduardo-camavinga","13":"tag-federico-valverde","14":"tag-girona","15":"tag-jude-bellingham","16":"tag-madrid","17":"tag-mario-cortegana","18":"tag-real-madrid","19":"tag-thiago-pitarch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}