LaLiga leaders Real Madrid begin 2022 with a matchday-19 away clash against Getafe on Sunday (8am ET, 5am PT).
The sixth wave of the coronavirus has hit Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti’s plans for Sunday’s LaLiga clash with Getafe, but less severely than first thought.
In the end, only two players to miss Getafe due to covid-19
The alarm bells that were set off when four players - Thibaut Courtois, Fede Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Vinícius Júnior - tested positive on the squad’s return to work on Wednesday have been eased by the news that Courtois and Valverde have both come back negative in subsequent tests.
The same goes for Camavinga, albeit the Frenchman will miss the trip to the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez anyway, as he serves a one-match ban after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season in the win over Athletic Club on 22 December.
The two players who will miss out due to covid-19 are Vinícius and Luka Jovic, whose positive test was confirmed on Thursday. The Brazilian drops out of the Madrid line-up after a run of 23 straight starts for Los Blancos.
Several Real Madrid players back from covid-enforced absence
Madrid will also be without the injured Dani Carvajal and Gareth Bale, but Ancelotti welcomes back a quartet of players who were unavailable against Athletic because of covid: Andriy Lunin, Luka Modric, Marco Asensio and Rodrygo Goes.
Casemiro and Ceballos also return to Madrid squad
Also back in selection contention are Casemiro, who was suspended for the game in Bilbao, and Dani Ceballos. The Spaniard, who is returning from an ankle injury, was in the squad for the first time this season in the draw with Cádiz on 19 December, but was not included against Athletic.
Ancelotti’s starting line-up against Getafe appears to more or less pick itself, other than the usual question mark over who starts on the right wing: Rodrygo or Asensio. Vinícius’ absence gives Hazard the chance to play on the left, Madrid’s long-time midfield trio of Modric, Casemiro and Toni Kroos will be back together in the middle, and Éder Militão and David Alaba are an undroppable centre-back pairing, flanked by Lucas Vázquez and Ferland Mendy.
Real Madrid’s expected XI vs Getafe: Courtois, Vázquez, Militão, Alaba, Mendy, Modric, Casemiro, Kroos, Rodrygo/Asensio, Benzema, Hazard.
Ancelotti has named a 23-man squad for the matchday-19 clash, so will have 12 players on the bench: Lunin, Nacho, Vallejo, Marcelo, Valverde, Ceballos, Isco, Rodrygo/Asensio, Mariano, and B-teamers Fuidias, Marín and Peter.