In three days, two very serious injuries at Real Madrid and with the same diagnosis: rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in the left knee. On Thursday Thibaut Courtois suffered it in training and this Saturday, Éder Militão in San Mamés. The Brazilian central defender, like the goalkeeper, will undergo surgery in the coming days, the club reported this Sunday, and his recovery time will last for at least six months. Two consecutive misfortunes on two fixed pieces in Carlo Ancelotti’s lineups.
The defense’s feelings were bad from the start. Militão came out to put pressure on Sancet at the beginning of the second part at three quarters of the field and his left knee broke in a bad movement. The gestures of pain set off the alarms and, although Ancelotti said an hour later in the press room that he was suffering from a sprained knee, he added that the problem “did not look good” and that everything was waiting for the tests this Sunday. In the end, rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament.
This is the most serious injury in the career of the 25-year-old Brazilian central defender, who since he was promoted to the non-negotiable category in the white defense, in the spring of 2021, had barely missed five games due to physical problems.
With his loss, Madrid is left with three pure central defenders: Alaba, Rüdiger (his replacement in Bilbao) and Nacho, and less than three weeks to decide whether to also enter the market or wait for events. Within the current squad, two other players have acted as improvised central defenders in situations of need: Carvajal (in extra time in the Champions League quarterfinals against Chelsea in 2022) and Mendy, although he has been around for three seasons now and wrapped in a drawing of three centrals.
In the case of the goal, it is expected that Real Madrid will soon announce the arrival of Kepa Arrizabalaga, on loan from Chelsea. In this case, the team was left with only Andriy Lunin, who does not offer the maximum guarantees after three years in the first team, and the goals from the youth academy.
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