 Albiol scored his first goal for the "Merengues" on 8 December 2009, in a 3–1 Champions League win at Olympique de Marseille.He was an undisputed starter during the league campaign, mainly due to Pepe's serious knee injury.In 2010–11, Albiol was relegated to the bench as Real Madrid brought in another player for his position, Ricardo Carvalho (a compatriot of newly appointed manager José Mourinho), only appearing in the league through injury or suspension to teammates (Pepe again missed several matches due to physical problems).