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Real Madrid fans have expressed their dissatisfaction online following Carlo Ancelotti's decision to drop Aurelien Tchouameni for their UEFA Champions League clash against Liverpool.
Los Blancos will host Jurgen Klopp's Reds side tonight (March 15) at the Santiago Bernabeu for a second-leg Round of 16 clash.
The Spanish giants hold a strong advantage heading into the encounter as they secured an emphatic 5-2 win in the first leg at Anfield last month.
In football, however, anything can happen and Real Madrid will go through to the next round of the competition should they avoid a defeat to Liverpool.
Head coach Ancelotti doesn't seem to be taking any chances either and has rolled out a very strong starting XI to face Liverpool tonight.
However, there seems to be a big omission from the starting XI, as the Italian tactician opted to drop French midfielder Tchouameni to the bench. Ancelotti seems to be going for more experience in midfield. He opted to start the duo of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric at the expense of Tchouameni.
The decision hasn't really gone down well with a cross-section of Los Blancos fans on Twitter. As such, a couple of them are of the opinion that Tchouameni deserves to have started the mouth-watering clash against Liverpool.
One fan tweeted:
"Tchouameni on the bench and Kroos and Modric together, I swear this man never learns."
Another fan opined that Tchouameni could possibly be receiving Edouardo Camavinga's treatment at Real Madrid. They tweeted:
"Tchouameni getting the Cama treatment now."
Below are a few tweets from fans who weren't too pleased with Ancelotti's decision to drop Tchouameni against Liverpool.
Tchouameni hasn't been given many minutes by Ancelotti since returning from injury. There are also concerns as to whether he has fallen out of favor with the Real Madrid manager.
The French midfielder joined the club from AS Monaco last summer for €100 million. He has played a combined total of 28 games for Los Blancos this season across all competitions. He has also registered three La Liga assists.
Carlo Ancelotti sends warning to his Real Madrid team ahead of Liverpool clash
The Italian tactician has warned his side against being complacent when they welcome Liverpool tonight at the Santiago Bernabeu. Despite having an emphatic 5-2 first-leg advantage over Liverpool, Ancelotti hinted that it's not done yet and dusted for his team.
He further stressed the need for Real Madrid to manage their second-leg clash carefully, sighting their scary experience with Chelsea last season. He said (via Managing Madrid):
"We had the experience of last year against Chelsea. We have an advantage, that’s why we’re favourites, but we have to play another 90 minutes with the same attitude as the first leg."
He continued:
"We have an advantage, but we can’t think of managing the game, we have to play 90 minutes at the top level.”
Real Madrid won the first leg of the quarter-finals against Chelsea last season 3-1 but lost the second leg 3-2. They eventually progressed to the semi-finals 5-4 on aggregate.
Los Blancos are unbeaten in their previous six encounters against Liverpool.
