Carlo Ancelotti: "I have doubts about my fullbacks, who are a bit tired."

In anticipation of Real Madrid's group stage match against FC Basel tomorrow, Carlo Ancelotti and Raphael Varane answered reporters' questions.

Varane spoke to the media first, claiming tomorrow's match will be difficult because FC Basel finds itself in a must-win situation and will play for everything. According to the French defender, Real Madrid is motivated even though the club has already qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League. Finally, Varane acknowledged that he has a strong aerial game and consistently tries to take advantage of it both offensively and defensively.

Carlo Ancelotti then took to the mic, claiming his starting eleven won't look too different from the one that took the field against Eibar, but he's considering changing the fullbacks, citing fatigue as the reason. Without a healthy Luka Modric and Sami Khedira, Ancelotti sidestepped a question about Illaramendi and said Illara may see some minutes, but he's not sure how many and that what really matters is that Asier is no longer injured.

Ancelotti disclosed Khedira took a knock to the hip that prevented him from training over the last few days; therefore, the boss decided to leave him in Madrid to work on his recovery at Valdebebas. When asked about Chicharito, Carletto said the player maintains a positive demeanor despite not seeing many minutes, and that his lack of minutes is purely due to the fact that his preferred squad has been playing at a very high level. Carlo commended Isco on his work rate, sacrifice, and teamwork, and said he's playing very well at the moment.

The manager said his side's motivation comes from the fact that when things are going well, all the players want that feeling to continue and will therefore run hard, sacrifice, and play for the team in order to keep the streak going.