Alex Kirkland

Arbeloa, increasingly, it seems not certain, but I'd say almost certain that he's not going to carry on past the summer.

The only way that he could possibly change that, I think, is by winning a trophy, and that means the Champions League or La Liga.

The Champions League, of course, above all.

And I think this is going to be a big test for Madrid because, yes, they got a very, very late win on Friday against Celta Vigo with Valverde's goal in the 94th minute.

But once again, they did not play well.

And once again, they got away with it a little bit.

And I'm not sure if they can do that against a side of City's quality.

Yeah, and there are a couple of big question marks for me, and one of them is highlighted there.

I've put Eduardo Camavinga in midfield.

He missed the Celta game.

The alternative, of course, is the youngster, Thiago Pitarch, who has impressed everybody coming to the team.

He's started a couple of games in a row now, done really, really well.

The question for Alba Loa is, could he pick Pitarch for a game like this?

You know, it's one thing coming in and doing well in the league against quality teams, you know, like Celta Vigo.

It's another thing.

Throwing them in from the start against Manchester City, that's why I've left Thiago on the bench and I've gone for Camavinga.

But I wouldn't be stunned, given what we've seen from Thiago Pichard, given how much everybody rates him, if it was the other way around.

The other doubt for me, the big one would be at left-back.

I had put Carreras in there.

He's not totally fit.