It’s been more than two weeks since Zidane said that Carvajal’s return to the team was “a matter of days” and the Spanish defender still hasn’t trained with his teammates. However, reports from Spain indicate that he will try his very best to be ready for the Madrid Derby against Atletico de Madrid in the new Wanda Metropolitano —November 18th—.
That match could very well be decisive for Los Blancos, who can’t afford to drop any more games now that they’re eight points behind Barcelona in the table. Atletico have been very mediocre lately and yet it’s clear that they’ll want to make things tough for their neighbors in the first Madrid Derby played at their new stadium.
Zinedine Zidane has been replacing Carvajal with Nacho Fernandez and Achraf Hakimi and that has yielded mixed results so far. While Nacho is definitely a useful player, he has been needed in the center of the defensive line because of Varane’s recurrent physical problems, while Achraf proved to be too young and inexperienced for that job during the 3-1 loss against Tottenham.