Real Madrid rocked by another injury: Carvajal out for two months

Dani Carvajal had come back after a lengthy injury layoff to start for Real Madrid in their Sunday’s win over Valencia, but the defender lasted only 25 minutes before being forced off in agony. The tests done overnight have come back and confirmed what everyone feared – it’s a serious injury.

The fact that Carvajal suffered a thigh muscle injury is bad enough, but the scans have shown that he’d also sustained tendon damage. This means that the Spain international will miss at least two months of action after the latest injury setback.

His injuries started at the end of November and he was missing for four games. Then Carvajal suffered a new injury on 2 January in a match against Celta. It seemed like he was fit again, but recurrence of the previous injury has now given everyone at the club fresh fears.

Real Madrid ease past uninspiring Valencia to keep title chances alive

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane will have to work with an already depleted squad. Injuries to captain Sergio Ramos, Eden Hazard, Rodrygo, Federico Valverde and Marcelo have given him selection headaches in previous weeks and now he’s got another defender with medical issues.

"I don't understand it. That's a lot of injuries... I'm worried. When I lose a player, it annoys me as a coach. It's a relapse - I feel for Carvajal. He played a good 25 minutes and I'm annoyed because he's very important to us. But I can't explain why do these injuries happen. As a coach, having injuries is the worst. They've come back to hurt us again."

Los Blancos are currently second in La Liga, five points behind their city rivals Atletico, who’ve also got two games in hand. Keeping up with the red and whites is a task difficult enough – even with a fir squad. And with Real’s Champions League clash with Atalanta coming up – Zidane will be hoping his players can steer clear of fresh injuries.