Luka Modric complimented Real Madrid's midfield options and said he feels Los Blancos are well-prepared to succeed when Casemiro joins Manchester United.
Last month, Casemiro moved from Madrid to United for £60 million (€70 million), but Carlo Ancelotti's team has made a great start to the new campaign despite his absence.
Madrid has won all four of its LaLiga games going into Sunday's home match against Mallorca. They also started their Champions League defence on Tuesday by hammering Celtic 3-0.
Madrid is currently attempting to win its first five league games for just the second time in the 21st century after previously doing it in 2009–10. Madrid is the only team in the top five European leagues with a perfect record this season.
In Casemiro's absence, players like Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga, and Federico Valverde have stepped up.
Tchouameni, a recent acquisition for Madrid, has played the most minutes in La Liga this year of any midfielder, followed by Valverde (265), Modric (260), and Camavinga (222). Compared to the two managed by Toni Kroos, who have played 173 minutes, all four have more starts.
Modric believes the strength of Madrid’s options means Casemiro will not be missed, telling the club’s website: “We’ve started really well this year and we have a strong team.
“In midfield, we lost an important player in Casemiro, but we’ve got a lot of other good players to replace him and do a good job.
“Tchouameni has adapted really well. This is Camavinga’s second year and he had a great first year.
“Kroos has been here for a long time. Valverde is also doing really well in any position. [Dani] Ceballos is helping the team a lot, so we’re well-equipped in this position.”
Meanwhile, Eden Hazard capped Madrid’s trip to Celtic by finishing off a 33-pass move for their third goal. Since Opta data began in 2003-04, that is the longest uninterrupted build-up to any of Madrid’s 434 goals in the competition.
But speaking on Saturday, Ancelotti insisted the Belgium forward’s strike was not representative of a change in Madrid’s style of play.
“Madrid deserves the credit it gets but scoring a goal from a 33-pass play doesn’t mean that’s our whole identity,” the Madrid boss said.
“The game was almost over and we wanted to finish it out with a long spell of possession, but the stats say it’s easier to score in under 10 passes. The numbers show very few goals come from over 10 passes.
“You could say that playing a possession-based game has been fashionable and has seen success in recent years, but football is changing and it’s more direct.
“Possession football is less popular than it has been recently in every country.”