Eduardo Camavinga is expected to start for Real Madrid on Friday against Girona at 21.00 on Movistar, another chance for a midfielder who has spent much of this season trying to force his way back into the center of the team.
The left-footed 23-year-old did not play a minute in Tuesday’s Champions League match against Bayern, but he could return to the discussion for Wednesday’s second leg in Munich if suspended Tchouameni is not replaced elsewhere. It is the kind of opening Camavinga has been waiting for after a stop-start campaign, and Friday’s league match offers him one more stage before Madrid make that call.
Camavinga has been at Real Madrid for five seasons since arriving from Rennes in the summer of 2021 for 30 million euros, but his Champions League involvement has shrunk since the Benfica playoff tie. Thiago Pitarch has pushed him out of the lineup in the biggest matches, and Camavinga’s best moment of the current season came when he was used near the right wing in the home league clásico, a reminder that his value has often been tied to where he can fit rather than where he wants to play.
He has been saying for months that the next step is his own consistency. In Lisbon, almost two months ago, Camavinga said, “Yo puedo ser ese jugador que organiza el equipo.” Two years earlier, he was already setting out the same checklist for himself: “Creo que tengo que hacer mucho más, soy consciente. Puedo hacer más. Me gusta jugar de seis y para ser titular me falta regularidad, estar más concentrado en el campo porque a veces hago fallos.” He added: “Necesito tener más concentración, marcar más goles, dar más asistencias y mejorar la pierna derecha.”
The problem is that the opportunity has been interrupted again and again. A left-knee sprain on the eve of the 2024 European Super Cup in Warsaw sidelined him, a left ankle issue in December sent him back to the infirmary, and a wisdom tooth problem kept him out for a couple of matches. His current slide looks less like a single setback than a long stall, with three separate stoppages shaping a season in which he has struggled to turn talent into a fixed place in the side.
That is why Friday matters beyond the schedule. If Camavinga starts against Girona, he gets one more chance to show he can still be trusted before Madrid head to Munich on Wednesday, where the suspended Tchouameni may leave a gap that only he can fill. After five seasons, the question is no longer whether Camavinga belongs at Real Madrid. It is whether he can still make himself indispensable.
