Real Madrid will mark their return to action after the World Cup, by taking on Real Valladolid away from home. Of course, every La Liga game is important for Carlo Ancelotti’s side at this point of time after they slipped behind Barcelona in the title race earlier on in the campaign.
It had looked like Real Madrid were in cruise control and they had won the first El Clasico of the season at Santiago Bernabeu by a 3-1 scoreline as well. But things started to fall apart in the weeks leading up to the World Cup break, as it appeared that injuries and fatigue had started to take their toll on Ancelotti’s squad, which is not the deepest by any stretch of the imagination.
In that sense, the World Cup break came at the perfect time for Real Madrid but not before Barcelona had gone two points ahead of them. Now, it is up to them to catch up to the Catalan giants.
Real Madrid look set to be without four players though when they travel to face Real Valladolid. As tweeted out by Arancha Rodriguez, everybody is available with the exception of Mariano Diaz, Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga and Luka Modric.
Four Real Madrid players set to miss the game vs Valladolid
Of course, the absence of Tchouameni, Camavinga and Modric was expected considering that their national teams made deep runs at the World Cup.
Croatia were able to overdeliver on expectations once again and reached the semis, while France were one step away from retaining their title but lost to Argentina in the final.
On the other hand, Mariano appears to have suffered an injury and it remains to be seen when he will be back. His chances of featuring against Real Valladolid were not great either way though.