Dani Carvajal is ready to return: the Leganés footballer has endured more than eight months of hard physical and mental effort to be able to make it to the United States, and after a month training with the team, his return could be very close. Xabi Alonso does not want to take any risks with him, so he will only play a few minutes in the next match to allow the player to feel like a footballer again and gradually regain his form ahead of next season.
Carvajal’s ordeal
Dani Carvajal has been through an ordeal, the same one that many of his colleagues who suffer injuries like his go through. On October 5, in the final minutes of the league match at the Santiago Bernabéu against Villarreal, an unfortunate play while trying to clear a ball contested by Yeremi Pino, fate struck again for a player who has suffered many injuries in his career, but none like the one he suffered that day: a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a torn lateral collateral ligament, and a torn popliteal tendon in his right leg. a torn lateral collateral ligament and a torn popliteal tendon in his right leg.
Just over eight months have passed since that day, and far from breaking down, the footballer has taken it as one of the most important challenges of his career. The first step was taken by the club: Florentino Pérez automatically renewed his contract, which he signed even before undergoing surgery. From there, he embarked on a long and cautious journey, but with determination and without sparing any effort. The medical staff described him as a “beast,” shortening his recovery time and setting his sights on one goal: to make it to the Club World Cup. He was aware that he might not play much, but he wanted to be back on the team.
Competition at right back
Dani Carvajal has experienced the helplessness of not being able to help the team and seeing his position filled by Lucas Vázquez, who has given his all but has not been able to reach the required level. For this new season, he will have a lot of competition for his position: the arrival of Alexander Arnold is another challenge for the veteran full-back, but a reinforcement that he himself considers necessary for a club like Real Madrid, which cannot afford to depend on a player of his age after such a serious injury, no matter how confident they are in his recovery.
However, he has hard work and sacrifice on his side, as well as being a man of the club, and he will take over the captaincy once Luka Modric leaves the club after the World Cup. They are different players: the Englishman has an attacking potential that the Madrid-born player lacks, but he is weaker in defense. Carvajal, meanwhile, is a very complete full-back, capable of tirelessly running up and down the right wing, whether to join in the attack or to defend. A year ago, we would have been talking about the two best right-backs in world football.
Carvajal’s debut
Everything will depend on how the games unfold: on Thursday (early Friday morning in Spain), he could get his chance, but it will all depend on how the game goes. A draw is enough for Real Madrid to go through, although they will want to secure first place. If they reach the final stretch with a comfortable lead, Xabi Alonso may give him his first minutes, but he is not going to take any risks with the player if there is more at stake.
Dani Carvajal is ready, he is training with the group and prepared to step back onto the pitch with his teammates. The wait has been long, the road hard, but the end of the nightmare is coming to an end.