David Alaba, the Real Madrid center back, underwent successful surgery this afternoon on the cruciate ligament in his left knee in a hospital in Innsbruck (Austria), according to the medical report provided by the white club. Alaba broke his cruciate in a bad turn of the knee in a match against Villarreal last Sunday. The player will miss the rest of the season and will be out for about nine months.
Alaba is the third player to break his cruciate at Real Madrid in the last four months after Thibaut Courtois and Éder Militão. These last two could reappear in the final stretch of the season.
Real Madrid also had another bad news this afternoon. Medical tests detected that left back Ferland Mendy has a small muscle injury and will miss Thursday’s game in Vitoria against Alavés. The Frenchman will be out for ten days so he could reappear after the Christmas break, on January 3 at the Bernabéu against Mallorca. Another of the injured players, Dani Carvajal, could also return that day.
The next two to recover may be Vinícius and Arda Güler. According to club sources, the Turk, who has not yet made his debut, continues with his solo training and could rejoin the group after Christmas. With Vinícius there is no date either but Madrid want to be very cautious about this and not take any risks with a footballer who is considered vital for the project. The next to leave the infirmary would be Camavinga.
Thibaut Courtois announced in an interview with the Belgian newspaper ‘Sporza’ that he will not go to next summer’s Euro Cup in Germany: “I will not go to the next Euro Cup due to the injury. I have to recover one hundred percent and it is better not to.” “set a recovery date or objectives. If everything goes well I could play in May, but it is little time to face a big tournament with the national team with guarantees,” he said.
Courtois does not close the door definitively on his selection: “I really enjoy playing for the Red Devils. They accused me of wanting to play every game and not leave anything for anyone. When I sometimes missed a game with Martínez, supposedly I didn’t want to play anymore. But I love playing for the national team. The World Cups and the European Championships are the best a footballer can have, apart from perhaps the Champions League final,” he said.
