Sami Khedira's injury is a big blow for Real Madrid

Sami Khedira

Coming out of the international break, the most important news for Real Madrid wasn’t that Cristiano Ronaldo scored a vital goal for Portugal against Sweden. It was that star midfielder Sami Khedira sustained a serious knee injury on Friday night in a friendly with Italy and, according to latest reports, is most likely out for the remainder of the 2013-14 season. Now that might not seem like the biggest news for Los Blancos, but that could not be further from the truth, for the player linked with Man United.

The 26-year-old midfielder has been a backbone of Real Madrid’s side this season, and his injury will no doubt create a huge hole in the middle of the field. He has a natural ability to win back possession in front of his defensive line, and has shown to be an effective distributor in that holding role. Against Getafe earlier in the season, Khedira dominated in his regista-esque role as he made a number of key tackles and interceptions, and was visible right across the field.

His pass map also shows how solid a platform he provided for Real Madrid, and while it might have been their high-profile attackers such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale that are being considered the “stars” of this team, Khedira certainly is just as important.

This makes his departure a big one for Real Madrid.

Unless someone steps up to fill the role that the under-appreciated Khedira has performed over the year so far, there’s no doubt that Madrid’s attack will struggle to attack with the same consistency and frequency and their defence may also be further exposed. Carlo Ancelotti’s men need someone to come to the fore in that central or wide holding role in Khedira’s absence—and the man most likely to do that appears to be former Tottenham man Luka Modric.

Modric struggled against Iceland in their World Cup qualifier earlier this weekend, but there’s little doubting the skill and talent that the Croatian has from a deeper-lying position.

Despite being played further down the pitch, Modric has created the second-highest number of chances this year among Real Madrid players. He’s not yet found the back of the net as his role changes from what it was under former manager Jose Mourinho, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of playing the holding role well for Madrid. In fact, given his adjustment in style and playing position this season he’s perhaps better suited to fulfilling that role than in years gone by.

The 28-year-old showed at Spurs that he contains a great attacking side to his game, but he’s also proven to be quite a prolific ball winner this season. He’s won an impressive 76% of his attempted tackles this season and over 60% of his aerial duels as well.

Moreover, his passing game has improved. His pass accuracy has risen to an all-time high of 89%, but what’s important to see is that over 70% of those passes have been forward.

He’s not simply chipping it around the defensive line and skewing the numbers as a result; he’s looking to move the attack forward and into attacking areas, which is exactly what Ancelotti will want to see from him as Khedira’s absence starts to become noticed more.

The return of Xabi Alonso to full fitness will no doubt help cover some of the slack from Khedira, but even still, Real Madrid need someone to step up. And with both attacking and defensive strengths clearly existent in his game this season, look for Modric to be the man to do just that.