José Mourinho has named a 24-man Real Madrid squad for Tuesday’s La Liga trip to Elche, with his side looking to follow Saturday’s 4–1 win over Rayo Vallecano and preserve momentum before Sunday’s Madrid derby against Atlético. The Matchday 6 game at the Martínez Valero is scheduled to kick off at 9:30 p.m. CEST.
Thibaut Courtois, Andriy Lunin and Sergio Mestre are the goalkeeping options. The defensive group includes Raúl Asencio, Dean Huijsen, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konaté, Marc Cucurella, Álvaro Carreras, Antonio Rüdiger and Denzel Dumfries. In midfield, Mourinho can call upon Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Arda Güler, Bernardo Silva and Thiago Pitarch. Vinícius Júnior, Endrick, Kylian Mbappé, Carlos Espí, Brahim Díaz and Yan Diomande make up the forward contingent.
Real Madrid travel without Éder Militão, Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo, all of whom remain injured. Otherwise, Mourinho has close to a full squad available and will need to judge carefully how much rotation to make with Atlético looming less than five days later.
Arda Güler is among the leading candidates to return to the starting lineup. Mourinho could use a 4-2-3-1 system featuring Courtois behind a back four of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Konaté, Huijsen and Cucurella, with Valverde and either Camavinga, Bernardo or Tchouaméni in midfield. Güler, Bellingham, Vinícius and Mbappé would then provide the attacking threat. These remain projected lineups rather than confirmed selections.
Tchouaméni could be held in reserve, allowing Mourinho to manage his minutes and retain the French midfielder as a fresher option for the derby. That approach would fit the manager’s broader balancing act: obtain three points at Elche without unnecessarily overloading players expected to be central against Atlético.
Elche are expected to line up with Matías Dituro in goal; Buba Sangaré, Federico Redondo, Víctor Chust and Roy Revivo in defence; and a forward line led by Fer Niño, with Facundo Buonanotte, Gonzalo Villar, Germán Valera and Thomas Lemar among their potential attacking options. The hosts will likely seek to make the match compact and difficult, particularly against a Madrid team expected to dominate possession.
Mourinho’s public objective has been uncomplicated: play well and win. Real Madrid’s squad depth gives him the chance to rotate without surrendering quality, but Elche represents the kind of away fixture in which an efficient performance matters as much as an expressive one. A controlled result would send Madrid into Sunday’s derby with confidence and with as many of their key players as possible fresh.
