Medical analysis: Explaining Dani Ceballos’ ankle injury & return timeline

Midfielder Dani Ceballos injured his left ankle during the opening match of the Olympics vs Egypt and on Tuesday we finally learned the full extent of the damage from the club’s official medical report:

‘Two ligament ruptures on the lateral (outer) aspect of Dani’s ankle’

In the following video, I explained the injury details including the basic anatomy, the severity of the injury, a potential return timeline for the Spanish midfielder, and two key things the Real Madrid medical and fitness staff will be focusing on moving forward — both during the rehabilitation process and as he returns to the pitch.

If anything changes or we receive updates during his physio and/or return to play process, I’ll make sure to keep you updated and abreast of the latest developments.

Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own in-person and online sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA in which he further combines his movement expertise and fitness training. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for 4 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), has a background in youth football coaching and analyzes Real Madrid from a medical and skills perspective for Managing Madrid and on his own YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.