Jude Bellingham is set to make his debut for Real Madrid in Saturday's La Liga clash with Athletic Bilbao.

The summer arrival from Borussia Dortmund has been operating as an advanced midfielder during the team's preparations for the 2023-24 campaign and that is expected to be the case this weekend.

Bellingham is set to be joined in midfield by Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga and Federico Valverde, with experienced duo Luka Modric and Toni Kroos likely to be on the bench.

Brahim Diaz is back at the club following a loan spell at AC Milan and is an option to start in the final third, whole Joselu has also arrived on loan from Espanyol.

However, Los Blancos head coach Carlo Ancelotti is believed to be planning to use Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo as his front two this term following the departure of Karim Benzema.

New signing Fran Garcia is pushing to start at left-back, but David Alaba could get the nod in that position to allow Antonio Rudiger to feature alongside Eder Militao in the middle.

Dani Carvajal will also start on Saturday, but four players have been ruled out of the contest through injury.

Indeed, new signing Arda Guler is battling a knee problem, while Dani Ceballos (hamstring) and Ferland Mendy (muscle) are both set to be absent for the remainder of the month.

It was then confirmed on Thursday that number one goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had suffered a serious knee injury which will require surgery, so Andriy Lunin will start between the sticks.

Real Madrid possible starting lineup: Lunin; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Alaba; Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga; Bellingham; Rodrygo, Vinicius

Written by
Matt Law