Carvalho to return to lead the Real Madrid defence

By Duncan Shaw Sep 26, 2011, 10:25 GMT

Madrid - Ricardo Carvalho will be bossing the Real Madrid defence in the Champions League Group D clash at home to Ajax on Tuesday.

Carvalho, 33, had to sit out Saturday's 6-2 slaughter of Rayo Vallecano after suffering severe concussion in last Wednesday's 0-0 draw at Racing Santander.

Against Rayo, Real badly missed Carvalho's composure and experience - and conceded two sloppy goals.

'Carvalho is an important player for us,' said Real coach Jose Mourinho on Sunday. 'We hope and believe that he will be fit by Tuesday.'

It was Mourinho who made Carvalho the leader of his defence at Porto, bringing him back to the club after loan spells at Leca, Vitoria Setubal and Alverca.

Carvalho rewarded his mentor by helping Porto to win the UEFA Cup in 2003 and, against all odds, the Champions League in 2004. When Mourinho left for Chelsea in 2004, the first player that he took with him, unsurprisingly, was Carvalho.

The pair enjoyed great success at Chelsea, until Mourinho left in 2007. They were separated for three years, but the first signing that Mourinho asked Real Madrid to make - after joining the whites in May 2010 - was that of Carvalho.

This request raised a few eyebrows in Madrid because, by then, Carvalho was 32 years old and injury-troubled. Indeed, he had lost his regular place at Chelsea.

However, Carvalho has turned out to be an inspired signing. He has formed a formidable partnership with Portugal team-mate Pepe, and has brought his habitual calmness and good positional sense to a defence that had lacked solidity for many years.

With Carvalho in charge, the Real defence leaked just five goals in 12 games in last season's Champions League.

Carvalho is keen to do well at Real in order to help forget his problems with the Portuguese national team. In a notorious episode in August, he stormed out of the Portuguese training camp before the match against Cyprus, annoyed at the prospect of not starting the match.

In an angry exchange of insults afterwards, national manager Paulo Bento called Carvalho a 'deserter' and Carvalho labelled the manager a 'mercenary'.

Now Carvalho is determined to put that ugly incident behind him and focus on Real's ambitious attempt to return to glory.

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