When the international break began, Real Madrid were already crossing their fingers and hoping that all their players would return ‘in one piece’. The fact is that the Whites have been plagued by injury problems this season.
During the break, Thibaut Courtois is the only goalkeeper currently on the sidelines, as he did not play against Belgium yesterday, and Vinicius is another concern. In the first of the three training sessions scheduled by Brazil before the Argentina game, the Real Madrid man did not join his teammates for the ball exercises.
At least during the 15-minute session open to the press, the Real Madrid striker and Canarinha star practiced alone, running around the pitch while his teammates practiced with the ball. Vinicius did not even put on his boots.
Brazil coach Dorival Júnior declined to make a statement explaining why he decided to hold a personal training session for the scorer of Brazil’s winning goal against Colombia on Thursday, but his assistants had already expected to monitor his workload as a precautionary measure.
Real Madrid are still in contention in all three competitions and, with a long list of injuries that already includes Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Mendy, Vallejo, Fran García and Ceballos, it is vital that no one else goes to the infirmary as they face a crucial April schedule in the fight for La Liga, a place in the final of the Copa del Rey and the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Undoubtedly, injuries have been a relentless scourge for Real Madrid, who have accumulated a total of 56 medical reports since the start of the season and with the latest injury to Fran García. There are only four players in the first-team squad who have not been injured so far this season: Andriy Lunin, Luka Modric, Raúl Asencio and Endrick, although the first two have been out at some point due to a viral infection.