Sergio Ramos To Replace Pepe For Real Madrid Against Atletico

Real Madrid had been suffering a selection headache in defence all week after losing centre-back Pepe for this weekend’s El Derbi Madrileno clash with bitter crosstown foes Atletico.

The Brazil-born Portuguese reached his yellow card limit last Saturday after picking up a booking in the 2-0 win at Espanyol. And with Los Blancos’ in-form back line looking compromised, coach Juande Ramos was forced to spend the early parts of the week deciding on how to reshuffle his rearguard.

Marca reports that, after much deliberation, Juande has finally settled on a solution, which is to deploy Sergio Ramos in the centre of defence, with Michel Salgado taking over at right-back and Gabriel Heinze keeping his left-back role.

The coach from La Mancha had been busy testing out various combinations in training but he has opted with the quicker Sergio to partner Fabio Cannavaro, knowing full well that the Italian needs a pacey side-kick to help contain Sergio Aguero’s speed.

Juande also wants to retain Heinze to cover the left flank, despite the Argentine’s wobbly form of late, as he prefers to utilise Marcelo as a midfielder, although the Brazilian youngster will likely start from the bench on Saturday.  

As for Salgado, this will be his first game of the year, having last featured for the side in the 1-0 win over Valencia in the final match of 2008.

KS Leong, Goal.com