The list of Africans who have played for Real Madrid is not long. As opposed to their rivals at Barcelona, los merengues have had relatively few stars from that continent in their history.
Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), and Michael Essien (Ghana) all enjoyed brief spells in the famous white jersey but made their marks elsewhere. Mahamadou Diarra (Mali) made a whopping 90 appearances for Real, and while the defensive midfielder did win titles, Madrid fans don’t cherish his memory the way they do Fernando Hierro’s or Xabi Alonso’s.
Thus, Real Madrid generally hasn’t been affected by the African Cup of Nations when the tournament calls away players from all over Africa.
Real Madrid will lose one player to AFCON this season
However, this season, they will have to cope with the absence of Brahim Díaz. The winger / attacking midfielder will be making the short trip to Morocco to play for that country as they host the prestigious tourney on their own soil.
(By the way, if you’re wondering about a guy named Díaz playing for an Arabic-speaking nation, you should know that the player was born in Spain to a Moroccan father. Certain Spanish and Moroccan territories border each other, and the European country maintained more than a little influence in the country across the Mediterranean.)
Morocco starts training camp on December 10 and concludes the group stage on the 28th. Should the host nation crash out in the group stage, Díaz might be back with Real before the new year. On the other hand, making it as far as the semifinals will mean that Díaz will be committed through the third weekend of January.
This means that if Díaz is with his national team on time, he’ll miss Real’s Champions League clash with Manchester City on the 10th. After that, Real’s schedule becomes much easier, especially since La Liga takes a break over Christmas.
He’ll definitely miss Madrid’s games away to Alavés and home to Sevilla before the holiday. The home match to Real Betis after the new year is a possibility for his return. The biggest game that he might miss is a Supercopa derby against Atlético on Jan. 8. He will definitely be back for their home Champions League date against Monaco on Jan. 20, though if Morocco reaches the final two days prior, he may be too crushed by the loss or too hung over from the win to play that game.
However long his absence lasts, Real will have attackers. Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé have two spots on their frontline nailed down, while the third will be taken by one of Arda Güler, Rodrygo, or Endrick.
Díaz’s worth to Real is as a squad player who can step up should one of those players need a rest. As long as the team at the top of La Liga stays in good health, his presence at AFCON should not be missed and should be regarded as an advertisement for the storied club to the African fans.