Although Real Madrid won its fourth consecutive match on Sunday against Celta Vigo, interim manager Santiago Solari will be without two, and potentially three key players the next month or more. Here is a full report on the players who were injured in the match.
The Monday blues struck the Valadebebas training center on Monday morning as Real Madrid coaches and players learned the diagnosis for both Casemiro and Nacho Fernandez. The midfielder and center back started the match at the Estadio Balaídos, but were unable to complete the 90 minutes.
After returning from Vigo, the Sanitas medical staff working with the club were able to put the two players through tests to learn more about the knocks picked up Sunday night.
Here is the medical report for Casemiro:
"“Following tests carried out on Casemiro by the Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with a sprained right ankle. His recovery will continue to be assessed.”"
The defensive midfielder was forced off in the 18th minute and was replaced by Dani Ceballos. Many experts are saying that the Brazilian is set to miss at least three weeks as he tries to rest and recover.
Nacho forced Solari’s hand in the 71st minute when he went down holding his right knee. Marco Asensio was brought on to replace Fernandez as all three of Solari’s changes in the match were made because of injuries to his players.
Here is what the medical report for Nacho said:
More from The Real Champs
- Manchester City hold talks over Real Madrid target
- Real Madrid player confirms he is playing with a fracture
- Real Madrid superstar rejected Premier League clubs confirmed
- Spaniard ready to join Real Madrid instead of Liverpool
- PSG want €100 million Real Madrid player to replace Kylian Mbappe
"“Following tests carried out on Nacho by the Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with a dislocation of the internal collateral ligament of the right knee. His recovery will continue to be assessed.”"
This is terrible news for Real Madrid who is already without center backs Raphael Varane and Jesús Vallejo and will have to look to Castilla product Javi Sanchez to fill in alongside captain Sergio Ramos.
Initial reports are saying that Nacho could be out of the lineup until January.
The Real Madrid boss acknowledged the injuries and the style of play Celta used in the match in his post-match remarks.
"“Celta played very aggressively,” he said. “Casemiro had to come off, Gareth [Bale] made a huge effort because the kick he received was causing him problems. Their challenges were at the limit of what’s allowed and we suffered because of that.”"
Celta, as a team, received four yellow cards and committed 19 fouls while Real Madrid committed 13.
Gareth Bale was aggressively kicked in the foot in the first half and Gustavo Cabral, who had a really tough night, received two yellow cards and had an own goal as well.
Real Madrid will need to dig deep to fill in for the crazy amount of injuries they have right now, and as it stands, Ramos is the only healthy first-team center back at Solari’s disposal. Dani Carvajal and Marcelo are still working with the training staff to get back to full practice.
Mariano Diaz also remains sidelined, leaving Los Blancos short-staffed at nearly every position. We will continue to keep a close eye on the status of all of these injured players.