Carvajal And Alaba Miss Training

This morning at Valdebebas, Real Madrid held their final training session before the match vs Athletic Club on Wednesday night at San Mames, 21:00.

It doesn’t happen often, but Carlo Ancelotti held his press conference before training today (full quotes here), which means we didn’t get an explanation on certain things (yet), like why David Alaba was not able to train with the team. We’ll post updates on the site when we have more information.

UPDATE: Alaba has not been able to train due to COVID protocols.

Alaba not being able to play tomorrow would further complicate the lineup vs Athletic. Dani Carvajal also has not returned to training yet, which means Lucas Vazquez — the only right winger apart from Peter Federico and Sergio Arribas — will likely have to play right-back. The other options are Fede Valverde (not likely) or Nacho (who may have to cover for Alaba at center-back).

Apart from Alaba and Carvajal, the five COVID-19 cases — Marcelo, Andriy Lunin, Gareth Bale, Rodrygo Goes, Marco Asensio — also missed training. As did Isco (sore throat, and pending the result of a COVID test) and Luka Modric (recovering from a flu, tested negative).

Several Castilla players — Peter, Antonio Blanco, Sergio Arribas, Miguel Gutierrez — also trained with the team.