Real Madrid News
Real Madrid midfield trifecta unlikely to feature against Real Valladolid – report
The FIFA World Cup reached its conclusion Sunday evening when Argentina became the first South American country to lift the coveted trophy since 2002, by beating France on penalties.
With the World Cup over, we are edging closer to the restart of club football. For Real Madrid, they are slated to resume their season with a trip to Jose Zorrilla as they face Real Valladolid at the end of the month.
Real Madrid have already played a friendly heading into this contest as they have no intention to drop points and slip behind Barcelona further at the top of the league table.
However, with just little more than a week to go before they face Valladolid, Real Madrid are risking missing out on a few important players, in the form of Eduardo Camavinga, Luka Modric and Aurelien Tchouameni.
This has been reported by AS (h/t Madrid Xtra), which suggests that the three players will only get nine days of rest as their respective teams had reached the final stages of the competition.
In contrast, other Real Madrid players such as Thibaut Courtois, Eden Hazard, Federico Valverde Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo have had significantly more time to rest.
This could play a key role in potentially ruling Modric, Tchouameni and Camavinga out of the Valladolid game, which in turn, could serve as a major blow for Los Blancos.
Both Camavinga and Tchouameni were part of the French team that faced Argentina in the final. They were close to clinching the trophy but lost the game in a penalty shootout, where Tchouameni missed one of the strikes.
Modric’s Croatia, on the other hand, were eliminated by champions Argentina in the semi-final stage. But his team had to stay back in Qatar for the third-place playoff, which was won by Croatia as they beat Morocco 2-1.
With the three midfielders tipped to miss out, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti may have to make some serious adjustments in the middle of the park, in his bid to restart the season in a positive manner against Valladolid.
Real Madrid News
Real Madrid midfielder trained away from the group last week, but has no injury – report
With the international break underway, several Real Madrid players have been called up for national team assignments. The stars who have not travelled for international duty have continued to work at the club’s Valdebebas training facility to prepare for the restart.
Toni Kroos is one such player who has remained in Madrid, having retired from international football back in 2021.
However, there had been concerns growing around the 33-year-old’s physical condition as he regularly did indoor work last week and was not spotted in group training with his teammates.
Now, Sergio Quirante has come up with an update on Kroos’ situation, stating that even though the midfielder largely did individual work inside the facilities over the last week, he is fine and has no injuries.
Taking advantage of the international break, the former Bayern Munich superstar is understood to have gone through an individual program to prepare for the final, decisive stretch of the 2022/23 season.
Kroos not being injured comes as a big positive for Real Madrid, ahead of important games against Real Valladolid and Barcelona within the first five days of April.
The rest of the Real Madrid midfield contingent – Luka Modric, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Federico Valverde, and Dani Ceballos – are all away on international duties and could return with some fatigue from the travel.
So, it is important that Kroos is fully fit and ready to go as Real Madrid look to cut down the gap to the top of the table in La Liga and also make it to the finals of the Copa del Rey by overturning a first-leg deficit against Barcelona in the semi-finals.
Kroos has played 37 matches this season, chipping in with two goals and five assists in the process. With his contract expiring at the end of the season, it is still unclear whether he will renew or hang up his boots.
