Spanish giants Real Madrid could be forced to see out the club’s upcoming showdown with Manchester City sans the services of two key members of the club’s squad.
The players in question? Casemiro and David Alaba.
Both midfielder Casemiro and defender Alaba emerged as doubts for the upcoming Etihad clash on Tuesday night over the course of the last week.
This comes with the former having been forced to sit out Real’s La Liga meeting with Osasuna owing to a muscular problem, with alarm bells having soon sounded surrounding Alaba, too, after the Austrian limped out of the action with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
Speaking in a pre-match press conference on Monday evening, Carlo Ancelotti was therefore drawn on the wellbeing of both players.
And, in concerning news for all associated with Los Blancos, the club’s boss went on to confirm that Casemiro and Alaba remain ‘doubts’ to take to the pitch in Manchester in 24 hours’ time.
In more positive news for the La Liga heavyweights, though, Ferland Mendy is fit and available for selection:
??| Carlo Ancelotti: “Mendy is fine. We have doubts about Alaba and Casemiro. We will know soon if they will play or not.”
— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) April 25, 2022
Stamford Bridge triumph
Real Madrid will of course make the trip to the Etihad tomorrow night with the club’s last visit to England still fresh in the memory.
This comes after Ancelotti’s troops emerged from Stamford Bridge with a 3-1 triumph less than three weeks ago, en route to sending holders Chelsea packing from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
Los Merengues, in turn, will be hopeful of similar heroics on the part of talisman Karim Benzema this time around, with the Frenchman of course fresh off the back of hat-tricks in each of the competition’s last two rounds.
Hat-trick for Benzema! ✔️
The worst possible start to the second half for Chelsea… ?
A terrible defensive mix up between Édouard Mendy and Antonio Rüdiger allows a tap in for Real Madrid’s star man ⚽️#UCL pic.twitter.com/GJDtp3IM6u
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 6, 2022
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