Real Madrid will play their first game of the 2024/25 season in a couple of days when they take on Serie A outfit Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup clash.
The match that pits the Champions League and Europa League winners of the previous season will be played on Wednesday night in Warsaw, Poland.
Heading up to the game, Real Madrid have almost their entire first-team squad available, barring David Alaba, who is still recovering from his ACL injury.
In light of the Austrian’s absence, coupled with Nacho Fernandez’s departure, Carlo Ancelotti was planning to name teenage defensive prospect Joan Martinez in the squad for the Super Cup after the 16-year-old impressed in pre-season.
However, that is no longer possible as the youngster suffered an ACL injury in training last week and is now out for six to seven months at least.
Jacobo Ramon to take Martinez’s spot
As such, MARCA reports that in the absence of Joan Martinez, Real Madrid will likely call up another young centre-back, Jacobo Ramon, to the first-team squad for the UEFA Super Cup clash against Atalanta.
Jacobo, 19, was part of the Juvenil A setup last season but did play a handful of matches for Castilla under Raul Gonzalez.
In fact, the teenager is set to be a member of the reserve team squad for the new season but seems as if he will have some first-team exposure as well.
Indeed, according to the report, Jacobo Ramon, who was part of the Spain squad that won the UEFA Under-19 European Championships this summer, will now be a part of the Real Madrid roster for not only the Super Cup, but also the La Liga opener vs Mallorca.
The youngster has been regularly training with the first-team squad since returning from his Euro assignments and even featured in the pre-season Clasico on the US tour. He is now ready to take Martinez’s place in the squad.