Marca: Mourinho Could Start Cesteros or Sergio Martinez Against Inter Milan

With several midfielders unavailable, Mourinho is considering using young players in the starting lineup for the match against Inter Milan.

In next Tuesday's Champions League debut against Inter Milan, Cesteros or Sergio Martinez could become the biggest surprise in Real Madrid's starting lineup at the Bernabeu. Either option could allow one of the Castilla players to become the first 'youngster' Mourinho has used in an official match since returning for his second spell in charge of Real Madrid.

The first reason is that Real Madrid's coach faces a depleted midfield ahead of this European match, with Valverde the only available midfielder at the time. Bernardo Silva, Camavinga and Guler are suspended, while Tchouameni and Pitarch are out injured. The latter two have already trained with the team, but barring an unexpected situation, they are unlikely to start and even their place on the bench is uncertain. Five absences have made the midfield situation extremely difficult.

The second reason is that Mourinho personally saw the plan the team prepared on Saturday to protect Cesteros and Sergio. Cesteros played the first half, while Sergio came on as a substitute in the second half. Their playing time was limited specifically to prepare them for Mourinho's final decision on who would partner Valverde in midfield. In that Castilla match, both academy players made an impression on the Portuguese coach. Cesteros gave the reserve team the lead with a superb goal and controlled the midfield with authority. Sergio Martinez completed an impressive debut, delivering a convincing performance and showing strong individual ability.

The Cesteros option

The plan for the two players is clear: both are candidates against Inter Milan. Now it is Mourinho's decision: the first option is to start either Cesteros or Sergio Martinez directly and make as few changes as possible. The second is to make a tactical adjustment, rearranging the team to avoid placing the responsibility of such a high-intensity match directly on a youth player.

If Mourinho chooses one of the two youngsters, the balance may lean toward Cesteros. The midfielder spent the entire preseason with the first team and is already highly integrated into Real Madrid's rhythm. He began playing first-team matches last season, making five appearances across La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, including one start. He was once the midfield leader of Castilla and played important roles under both Arbeloa and Julian Lopez de Lerma. During his academy career, he also experienced high-pressure tests such as promotion playoffs and Real Madrid's run to the UEFA Youth League semifinals. According to Transfermarkt, he is currently La Fabrica's most valuable academy player, with a market valuation of 7 million euros. Arbeloa even praised him in Lisbon. At the time, when he was Castilla coach, he said in October last year: 'Castilla is the team of Manuel Angel and Palacios, and also Cesteros. I think he is currently the best No. 6 player in Spain.' The player was then one of the biggest surprises of Arbeloa's project alongside Pitarch, and he has been gradually pushing open the door to Real Madrid's reserve team. For this reason, Mourinho has never overlooked him and brought him along from the first day of preseason.

The bet on Sergio Martinez

Sergio Martinez has brought a great deal of impact, and expectations around him are high. The young midfielder has already shown many qualities and quickly earned praise. Castilla's coach said after his debut last Saturday: 'The 45 minutes he played already showed his level, ability, potential, and especially his character. To play a match like this when he barely knows his teammates yet... We are very satisfied with him and know he can help us a lot this year.' The young player initially played in La Liga for Racing Santander this season, and in the previous campaign he also accumulated more than 300 minutes in the Segunda Division, gaining experience in high-level competition. However, as a new signing, this factor works against him. He has only been at Valdebebas for one week and is still adapting. In terms of both match time and training integration, he is not yet ready to overtake Cesteros if Mourinho decides to use one youngster.

Bellingham, Trent, Huijsen...

Besides these two 'kids', Mourinho has few ways to rebuild the midfield while several players are unavailable. The most direct and almost the only relatively safe solution is to drop Bellingham deeper and pair him with Valverde. This would leave open the Englishman's original attacking midfield role, as well as Guler's position in the team's usual 4-2-3-1 system, giving the coach more options in the attacking midfield line. Brahim, Diomande and Espe could all be used to help address the serious problem caused by five midfield absences.

Using other solutions would mean changing the formation. For example, on the right side, Dumfries and Trent could both stay wide, with the Englishman acting as a third midfielder alongside Valverde and Bellingham, while Brahim or Espe would appear in attack with Vinicius and Mbappe. This would effectively mean switching to a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 to fit the new pieces into place. The final and most aggressive option would be moving Huijsen into midfield. Huijsen is comfortable on the ball and has good physical attributes. In that case, the center-back pairing would be Rudiger and Konate, with only the attacking options mentioned above needed to fill the vacancy left by Guler.