When they noticed a “mystery” player in first-team training who wasn’t in the squad, Real Madrid supporters were left perplexed.
Real Madrid will play Bayern Munich in the first leg of the semi-final on Tuesday, following their elimination of the defending European champions Manchester City in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
With some of the best players in the world going up against each other while representing two legendary teams at two amazing venues, the two-leg matchup is sure to be remembered.
With the exception of the long-term absentees David Alaba and Thibaut Courtois, as well as the suspended Dani Carvajal, Carlo Ancelotti has nearly his whole roster available for the first leg.
Nevertheless, ahead of the first leg in Munich, Madridistas spots a new face participating in training at the Allianz Arena.
Even though Jeremy De Leon, 20, isn’t really in Ancelotti’s team, he traveled to Germany and participated in training.
The attacker was signed by the soon-to-be La Liga champions in January from Castellon, a third-tier team in Spain, but he was not eligible to participate in the Champions League knockout stages.
It’s reasonable to say that De Leon’s appearance in first-team training puzzled some of the supporters during his five outings for Real Madrid Castilla this season.
Ancelotti gave an explanation on Monday for why he has summoned De Leon up to first training multiple times this season and why the team traveled to Manchester for the most recent round.
“We want 20 of us in training and in recent games we’ve called on Jeremy a few times because having spoken to Raul [Real Madrid Castilla manager], he’s been very good for Castilla and he’s a disciplined lad,” Ancelotti said.
“He adds something to our training sessions because he’s a young kid with real quality.”
