Real Madrid's 2019/20 pre-season will be remembered for the serious injury suffered by Marco Asensio, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the International Champions Cup match against Arsenal which rules out the Spaniard for the majority of the upcoming season.
However, it is not the first time Los Blancos have experienced such a shock in the off-season preparations, as Luis Milla's start to life at the club, following his switch to the capital from rivals Barcelona in 1990, brought about a similar situation.
After 13 days as a Madrid player, and just 96 minutes in a white shirt, he fell to the ground in the 51st minute of a match against Lazio. After returning to the Spanish capital, the same injury that Asensio suffered had been detected, a broken meniscus and cruciate ligament rupture, only Milla's blow was to his right foot.
The doctors of Real Madrid at the time described the injury as very serious as, in the early 1990s, a break of any kind was a very serious issue.
"The problem is that you have to insert a tendon to act as a ligament and it takes a long time for this tendon to gain strength. [Milla] will have to work hard, but it he will progress," Dr. Herrador explained to MARCA.
Jose Antonio Camacho, who had suffered a similar injury which had put his career at risk, gave him some simple advice: "You must have patience, a lot."
Milla's injury shocked everyone. Even at Barcelona, where his decision to go to Madrid caused quite a stir, Joan Gaspart put himself at the forefront of the messages of support.
"I am very sorry for what happened to you. The most important thing is the human aspect," Gaspart said.
At the Santa Elena clinic, where Milla had been operated on, he received a telegram the next morning from Jose Luis Nunez, then president of Barcelona.
On April 20, 1991, against Real Betis, Milla returned to action after 252 days out, almost eight months on the sidelines.
"I never thought they would be so hard," said Milla.
Most of those days were spent in his native Teruel. Coincidentally, on September 4, 2015, his son broke his cruciate knee ligament when he played for Guijuelo at just 20 years of age. Thankfully, he made a full recovery and, today, he hopes to help Tenerife earn promotion to LaLiga Santander.