Real Madrid lose Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos to injury on international duty
By Ben Sundock
The injury bug seems to follow Real Madrid everywhere. Even while players are away from the club on international duty.
Real Madrid fans watched in despair as both starting center backs for Zinedine Zidane went down with muscle injuries at nearly the same time in two different games.
With Spain leading Germany 3-0 in a “must-win” Nations League match, Spain and Real Madrid’s captain Sergio Ramos played a very easy pass to the wing and FC Barcelona fullback Sergi Roberto before signally to the sideline that he was in need of some help.
In the brisk Seville night, Ramos sat on the pitch looking and feeling his right hamstring as he was surrounded by several Spanish players, the head referee, and Madrid teammate Toni Kroos who looked quite concerned.
He limped to the sideline in the 43rd minute to be replaced by Eric Garcia. Ramos appeared in all three of Spain’s matches over the break and played a total of 138 minutes. Coupled with the amount of time he has played for Real Madrid already this season – 856 minutes in 10 appearances – Luis Enrique’s decision to play the defender in all three matches has to be called into question.
This was very clearly an overuse injury as no German player was within 30 yards of Ramos. Much like Toni Kroos said heading into the international break, FIFA must consider the health of its players and having them travel in the midst of a pandemic to play meaningless international matches is increasingly frustrating. Especially when we see players like Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane both injured.
Varane, much like his defensive partner, is a staple of the national team lineup. The 2018 World Cup winner actually played more minutes than Ramos (146) and suffered an injury in France’s 4-2 win over Sweden.
Varane was brought off at halftime as manager Didier Deschamps confirmed after the match that Raphael picked up a shoulder injury.
Zidane now has a defensive conundrum to deal with.
Though we do not know the extent of either of the injuries (the club has not released an official statement on either player) Zizou now faces a tough few days ahead of the trip to Villarreal. Ramos and Varane should be considered questionable for the match much like Eder Militao who is recovering from COVID-19.
Militao has missed 16 days of training while isolating and though he should be cleared to return on Thursday following one more negative test result, his fitness is of great concern. Meanwhile, Nacho Fernandez and Dani Carvajal have returned to training after dealing with injuries.
Carvajal has been out since late September with a knee injury and Nacho was injured in El Clasico and has not featured since.
Next. Three young CBs who would pair well with Raphael Varane. dark
Alvaro Odriozola is still out and is not expected to be back in time for the match this weekend.