Nine absentees leave Real Madrid in serious trouble before Elche match | OneFootball

Real Madrid may have secured a commanding 3-0 victory over Manchester City in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie, but the celebrations have quickly been replaced by concern.

The team must now shift its focus back to La Liga, where Elche awaits in the next fixture. 

However, preparations for that match have been complicated by a growing injury crisis that has left the squad extremely thin.

As such, Alvaro Arbeloa is currently dealing with a difficult situation, as he only has 15 players available for the match, and two of those players are goalkeepers. 

List of absentees

The biggest concern comes from the number of players currently sidelined through injury. 

Among the injured players are Eder Militao, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham, Dani Ceballos, Kylian Mbappe, David Alaba and Alvaro Carreras.

The latest player to join the injury list is Ferland Mendy, who suffered a physical problem during the Champions League clash against Manchester City. 

Mendy picked up another injury. (Photo by Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey/Getty Images)

On top of the injured players, the team must also cope without Franco Mastantuono. The Argentine is serving the second game of a suspension after being sent off during the recent match against Getafe.

Stretching the capacity

Although the situation is already difficult, there are additional concerns regarding the physical condition of several players who are still available. 

Defenders Antonio Rudiger, Raul Asencio and Dean Huijsen have all been dealing with minor physical issues in recent weeks, even though they are currently expected to be fit enough to play.

Meanwhile, some of the team’s most important attacking and midfield players have been heavily used throughout the season. 

Players such as Federico Valverde, Vinicius Jr., Aurelien Tchouameni and Arda Guler have played a significant number of matches recently.

Ideally, the coaching staff would like to rotate some of these players to keep them fresh ahead of the second leg against Manchester City, but the lack of available squad depth makes that extremely difficult.