The effects of the internationals will shortly be known

As the players return from their various international stints the main concern is always over how many are likely to have picked up injuries as a result of their participation in the recent World Cup qualifiers.

We already know that Zinedine Zidane has a few decisions to make over team selection for the forthcoming Getafe game based on reports to date. It appears that several injuries have been sustained by Real Madrid players over the last ten days and he will have some cause for concern.

Keylor Navas was the latest to come back to Valdebebas with an injury following Costa Rica's successful qualifying campaign.

It's already been widely reported that Keylor picked up a thigh injury while on international duty. The statement issued recently by the Costa Rican team doctor clarified that and explained that the injury is an actual muscular strain as opposed to a knock on the leg; which was reported to be the case earlier in the week.

Depending on the severity of the injury, one can be just as bad as the other. There's a tendency to dismiss injuries sustained by direct contact such a blow to the thigh for example as being "only a kick" or "just a dead leg". Often these can take as much time to recover as a mild strain or partial tear.

Either way it looks as though he's now going to miss some Real Madrid games as a result.

Toni Kroos also returned to Madrid early following a rib injury. On his Twitter page last week Toni described this as not being serious but something that has troubled him for some time.

It sounds as though he's been carrying this injury for a while; and although the likelihood is that he'll be able to play at Getafe it might be that he won't be completely over this for a few weeks yet.

Again although the tendency in football is to describe rib injuries as 'only bruised' (rather than broken) these can be restrictive if breathing is affected as is so often the case.

There's not really an awful lot that can be done either in terms of actual treatment and sometimes the best thing to do is just to avoid anything that is likely to make matters worse.

With the exception of rib fractures that are displaced and can lead to lung damage, the other common scenario with rib injuries is when the small interconnecting muscles are involved. Taking deep breaths becomes incredibly painful and this obviously makes it difficult to play.

Gareth Bale was the first of the international contingent to return early to Madrid after Wales manager Chris Coleman was concerned about some discomfort Gareth reported in his left calf.

After consulting with the Welsh medical staff and liaising with Real Madrid, it was quickly agreed that the best course of action would be for Gareth to return to Madrid where any issues over his fitness could be addressed.

As we know, this happened over a week ago so there's already been considerable debate about this.

The indications were that Gareth wasn't happy when he joined up with the Welsh squad and the usual rumours followed over the possible injury scenarios and at what stage he felt the symptoms to begin with.

There was also a query over what Gareth actually did while with the Welsh squad in terms of activity, but Chris Coleman insists that Gareth didn't train.

Instead, when the discomfort was reported on arrival, a scan was quickly arranged after speaking to Real; with Gareth then returning to Madrid.

It's a bit less clear after that. Real Madrid reported that the scan revealed only swelling without the presence of a soleus muscle tear although original reports had been suggestive of the latter.

It can be very easy in these situations to use terms or expressions that can mean something totally different when taken out of context. One throwaway remark can lead to confusion especially when the media are eagerly awaiting the outcome of any investigations.

It's not too difficult to see how the reporting of these can vary.

The expectations are that Real Madrid will shortly update the information we have to date; not only on the players who have returned from international duty with injuries but also about those who didn't travel.

Dani Carvajal and Mateo Kovačić both remain unavailable to Zinedine Zidane as preparations begin in earnest for Getafe. As he gets the players together over the next 48 hours the overall situation should become a lot clearer.