DANILO replaced Dani Carvajal after 63 minutes as Zidane opted to give the Spanish right-back a rest, a move suggesting he will pick the Madrid-born defender on Tuesday and not the under-fire Brazilian.
There was generous applause from the fans for Carvajal as he went off, but boos and whistles for Danilo as he came on.
“It hurts to hear that,” Zidane said after the game. “But all of the players have been booed here. Danilo is a great lad and he is a professional. It is not nice to hear, but he came on and did well. He also nearly scored a goal. I would have liked for him to score that.”
Danilo, a €30 million signing from Porto in the summer, has played every minute of every Madrid defeat this season and the message from Real’s fans was clear on Saturday: they do not want him in the team on Tuesday.
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Zidane refused to reveal his intentions after the match, but said: “I took Dani off to give him a rest. But you will have to wait and see who starts on Tuesday.”
Madrid are still in it at 2-0 down, but concede a goal against Wolfsburg and they will need four on Tuesday. So selecting Danilo is a risk the Frenchman surely will not take in what will be his biggest test yet since taking over from Rafa Benitez in January.
Carvajal, one of seven homegrown players in Madrid’s line-up on Saturday, embodied the attitude fans wish to see in midweek when he said afterwards: “It will be a war. We will go out there and fight to the death, to sweep our rival aside.”