Real Madrid’s Champions League campaign will start under a cloud of absences, with José Mourinho stripped of three key midfield options for the opening League Phase showdown against Inter Milan.
The European giants host the reigning Serie A champions in Madrid on Tuesday night, a glamour tie to launch the new continental season. The stage is set. The squad list is not.
Suspensions carried over from the 2025/26 campaign mean Eduardo Camavinga, Arda Güler and Bernardo Silva are all barred from featuring, each having been sent off in their final European appearances last season. Three red cards, one lingering problem.
For Mourinho, already juggling a lengthy injury list, the timing could hardly be worse. Rodrygo, Éder Militão and Ferland Mendy remain sidelined, cutting into Real’s depth at both ends of the pitch. Now the heart of his midfield takes another hit, not through fitness, but through discipline.
Camavinga’s energy, Güler’s creativity and Bernardo’s control between the lines would normally shape Madrid’s rhythm on nights like this, the sort of fixture where a single moment of composure or invention can tilt the balance. Instead, the Portuguese coach must redraw his blueprint for one of the toughest assignments of the League Phase.
Inter arrive as Scudetto holders, confident and battle-hardened, while Madrid enter the competition with the weight of expectation but without a full hand to play.
The Champions League rarely waits for anyone. On Tuesday, Real Madrid will discover how much that missing trio really costs.
