Karim Benzema and Thibaut Courtois will be just two of the key names missing from Real Madrid’s starting line-up for today’s Club World Cup semi-final versus Al Ahly.
A muscle injury kept the 35-year-old striker out of the weekend’s defeat at Mallorca and, while he may yet join the Madrid squad in Morocco if they make the final, he was not on the plane flying out on Monday for the opening game of their campaign.
One player also not be travelling to the Club World Cup, at least in the first half of the week, is Courtois.
An injury in the warm-up at Mallorca means the goalkeeper will again be replaced by Andriy Lunin in Carlo Ancelotti’s XI.
The Ukrainian started the LaLiga defeat which saw Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and David Alaba named on the bench ahead of likely returning versus Al Ahly.
Real are dealing with a sizeable injury list already featuring Eder Militao and Ferland Mendy, the left-back set to spend over a month out as he recovers from a thigh issue.
A knee injury will keep Eden Hazard out of the Club World Cup and Lucas Vazquez is also unavailable.
Eduardo Camavinga is set to continue to deputise at left-back unless Nacho Fernandez is picked ahead of the Frenchman, with Rodrygo the preferred candidate to start up front in Benzema’s absence.
Young players Lucas Canizares, Marvel, Mario Martin and Sergio Arribas have been named in Madrid’s 22-man squad which flew out to north Africa on Monday.
Predicted Real Madrid XI: Lunin; Nacho, Rudiger, Alaba, Camavinga; Modric, Kroos, Valverde; Asensio, Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr.
