“We cannot compare the three. Guler’s absence is longer. Carvajal is going to play from the beginning and I have not yet decided on Vinicius. I have to talk about it with the player and with the doctors. In training he has shown that he is very, very good.”

“The important thing for Guler is that he is OK. Little by little he is recovering his best level. We all have to be mindful of not being in a hurry with him because he is very young. He will have all the time in the world to play with us. If I can give him minutes tomorrow, he will have minutes tomorrow. If not, it will be another game.”

There was also positive news regarding Ferland Mendy and Eduardo Camavinga, who are not far off returning either.

“Vini, Carvajal, Arda are back… Mendy and Camavinga will return next week. The news is good and tomorrow we will try to play a good game, with intensity and commitment to start the year well.”

The return of Mendy and Camavinga will be warmly welcomed, with just four first-team defenders in the squad for the visit of Mallorca, the other being Real Madrid Castilla central defender Alvaro Carrillo.

Ancelotti has noted that he can use Aurelien Tchouameni or Carvajal in central defence too, but ahead of their Supercopa clash with Atletico Madrid, he is unlikely to want to experiment too much.