Real Madrid injury crisis deepens, diagnoses are worse than first thought

Real Madrid are now in the red zone, as the injuries at the back mount up. In addition to Eder Militao’s cruel anterior cruciate ligament injury on Saturday, Lucas Vazquez and Rodrygo Goes were also forced off. Los Blancos confirmed their injuries on Monday.

Vazquez has suffered a left hamstring injury, which will keep him out for a month, as per Diario AS. The 33-year-old, who captained the side on Saturday, will miss games against Leganes (A), Liverpool (A), Getafe (H), Athletic (A), Girona (H) and Atalanta (A). It leaves Carlo Ancelotti without a natural right-back option, and it looks as if he will be forced to use either Fede Valverde there, as happened at the weekend, or call on 17-year-old Jesus Fortea.

Meanwhile Rodrygo has damaged his right hamstring, an injury which he has just returned from. He is expected to be out for between a month and six weeks, and could miss the above six ties, plus Rayo Vallecano (A), the Club World Cup in Qatar, and Sevilla (H). That would mean the rest of the year out for the Brazilian, although Real Madrid do tend to give longer estimates for their recovery times.