Valverde Played 40 Minutes Injured as Real Madrid Begin Gruelling Away Run
Valverde Played 40 Minutes Injured as Real Madrid Begin Gruelling Away Run
Real Madrid returned from Camp Nou on Sunday night with three precious points and a fresh fitness scare. José Mourinho confirmed after the 2-1 win over Barcelona that Federico Valverde had spent a large portion of the Clásico carrying an injury — and the timing could hardly be worse with three away fixtures crammed into the next seven days.
Mourinho singles out his Uruguayan warrior
The coach went out of his way to highlight the midfielder in his post-match press conference, stating that Valverde “played injured for more than 40 minutes”. Mourinho added: “He got injured, wanted to continue, pushed himself to his limits, and gave everything while he was on the field.”
At the time of writing, Real Madrid had not published a medical report on the midfielder, who was named in the starting XI alongside Aurélien Tchouaméni, Bernardo Silva and Jude Bellingham. The club’s English account still made him one of the faces of the night, sharing a Valverde post shortly after midnight.
Mourinho gave no details on the nature of the problem or at what point in the match it occurred, so the club’s next medical update will be closely watched before the trip to Santander.
Courtois out, Lunin answers the call
Valverde was not the only fitness story of the weekend. Thibaut Courtois dropped out on matchday because of what the club called a flu-like illness, with Illia Voloshyn called up as cover. Andriy Lunin started in goal and, according to Real Madrid’s own match report, made a fine stop from a Gerard Martín header in the 66th minute.
Mourinho said his only message to Lunin before kick-off was simple: “You train to play, not to sit on the bench. Go and play.” He also stressed that the squad had not been rattled by the late change, adding that “today none of us cried before the match because Thibaut wasn’t playing”. Courtois, whose future has been discussed in terms of a possible one-year contract extension, now has a few days to recover before the next game.
Three games in a week
The calendar offers Madrid little breathing space. Mourinho pointed out that “on Sunday we play away; then we play away on Wednesday, and then we have another away match on Saturday”. According to the fixture list, those games are against Racing Santander on 1 November, AEK Athens in the Champions League on 4 November and Valencia on 7 November.
That run is where Mourinho’s faith in his squad will be tested. He insisted after the Clásico that “I have a rich bench, with players who can be starters”, and he backed it up at Camp Nou by leaving Eduardo Camavinga among the substitutes days after his strong display in the 4-1 win over RB Leipzig. Camavinga came on and set up the late winner for Kylian Mbappé.
The victory was Madrid’s fifth in a row and, as Mourinho noted, leaves them three points behind Barcelona rather than six or nine. Keeping that momentum through three away games will be far easier with Valverde available.