Upon the conclusion of last night's big 3-2 win in the Madrid derby, we have reached the fourth and final international break of the 25/26 season. It is the last international window before the World Cup takes place in North America this summer. 

As usual, plenty of Real Madrid players will be in action over the break, both in friendly games and for the play-off spots to try and book their nation's place at the 2026 World Cup. 

One Los Blancos player who will not be away on international duty, however, is Trent Alexander-Arnold. Last Friday, England national team manager Thomas Tuchel made the controversial decision not to include the 27-year-old in his squad for friendlies against Uruguay and Japan. 

This decision came despite Tuchel selecting a bloated 35-man squad, and with first-choice right-back Reece James missing the camp with a hamstring injury. So, pretty damning stuff. 

Well, just when you thought it couldn't get any more brutal for Real Madrid's number 12, it does. Indeed, Arsenal defender Ben White has been called up to replace the injured Jarrel Quansah of Bayer Leverkusen. 

Now, some of you may point to the fact that Quansah is a central defender by trade. True, but he did start for England at right-back in their previous outing against Albania in November. After the game, Tuchel said that he is above Alexander-Arnold in the pecking order in that position. 

Plus, White has not played as a central defender since the 21/22 season, so we can assume he has been called up as a right-back. This is a very telling suggestion of how much, or little, the 53-year-old rates the Real Madrid man. 

Nevertheless, this is very good news for Alvaro Arbeloa's side. We know how many games Alexander-Arnold has missed through injury. Two weeks off will do him the world of good. He will also no doubt be extra hungry and motivated to try and prove Tuchel wrong in the run-in. 

There is no doubt that the former Liverpool academy graduate will not have given up on his World Cup dream, so he will be more determined than ever to do his best after the break, which can only be a good thing for Real Madrid. 

Let's see what happens. It would be a big shame for England not to have a player of Trent's calibre at least on the bench to try and change a game. But for now, their loss is the club's gain. 

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