Real’s injury list worrying Ancelotti

Real Madrid’s injury list is a headache for coach Carlo Ancelotti ahead of the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid, and also a longer-term concern for the club.

As Madrid crashed out of the La Liga title race with last Wednesday’s 1-1 La Liga draw at Valladolid, regular starters Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Pepe, Gareth Bale, Raphael Varane, Dani Carvajal, Angel Di Maria, Sami Khedira and Alvaro Arbeloa were all injured.

The main concern is the condition of talisman Ronaldo, who asked to be substituted himself just eight minutes into Wednesday’s game, and then sat out yesterday’s 2-0 defeat at Celta Vigo.

Ronaldo has played the full 90 minutes in just two of Madrid’s last nine games, amid a mixture of knee and thigh muscle problems, the exact nature of which was never made public. There have also been widespread reports of disagreements in diagnosis and recovery plans between Madrid’s medical staff and the player’s own camp. His current problem is being called “muscle fatigue”, not often an issue which causes professionals to miss their team’s biggest games of the season.

Bale, Benzema, Varane and Carvajal are all suffering from unspecified niggles which have hampered their contribution over recent key games. Madrid have ‘outsourced’ their medical services to private health insurer Sanitas.