Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Real Madrid’s trip to Valladolid on Saturday, head coach Zinedine Zidane confirmed Karim Benzema’s absence from the squad this weekend.
Benzema is the latest name to be added to Zidane’s injury list. The Frenchman missed Friday morning’s training session at Valdebebas, will not travel for tomorrow’s LaLiga clash against Real Valladolid and is now a doubt for Madrid’s last 16 tie away to Atalanta midweek.
“Every player who is injured is a strong hit to us. We know the player that Karim is for us, as I just told you, he will not play tomorrow and we have to think about those who will be there and get the injured players back to fitness as soon as possible. We’ll need to see for next week.”
The French coach went on to discuss Kylian Mbappé’s performance for PSG against Barcelona during the week.
“I think the performance he put in earlier this week was wonderful. I loved seeing what he did because we know each other from France. It’s very good for football, I watched the game as a fan. He has a lot of good movement, a lot of good play,” Zidane added.
