La Liga giants Real Madrid may well be forced to make do without the contributions of a star member of the club’s midfield ranks this weekend.
This comes amid confirmation that Federico Valverde is yet to recover full match fitness.
Midfielder Valverde was for his part forced to sit out the recent international break with his native Uruguay. En route to Real Madrid’s derby day defeat at the hands of Atlético last month, the 28-year-old was on the receiving end of a heavy challenge on the part of Lee Kang-in.
An ensuing round of tests at Valdebebas revealed an ankle injury, with Valverde having spent the time since doing recovery work under the watch of Los Blancos’ medical staff.
The South American was spotted back out on the grass doing group drills over recent days, giving rise to hope that he would be cleared to feature from the off in Real’s post-international break return against Villarreal on Saturday.
Speaking to the media during his pre-match press conference on Friday, however, José Mourinho admitted:
“Fede Valverde is a doubt for tomorrow.”
Conor Laird – GSFN
