Carvajal out against Atletico de Madrid and Union Berlin with muscle injury

Update 09/19: Ancelotti said during today’s press conference that Carvajal could be ready for the Derbi. Right now, he should be considered ‘questionable’.

Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal missed Tuesday’s training session with a muscle injury that will keep him out of Wednesday’s match against Union Berlin and Sunday’s Madrid Derbi against Atletico de Madrid. The defender will get some tests to reveal the extent of his injury and could even miss some more time.

This is very bad news for Ancelotti as Carvajal had been the team’s most consistent defender in this first portion of the season. Lucas Vazquez will now be needed to play as a right-back and that should ultimately hurt the team’s defensive structure, as Vazquez has never been a pure defender.

Carvajal had been able to stay healthy for most of last season so it will be interesting to see if he can avoid more injuries when he recovers from this one. Given his history, Real Madrid will likely take a cautious approach and he will return only when he’s 100% ready to go.