Zidane takes 11 reserve team players along on Canada trip

The 15 players who had been summoned by Zidane to start Real Madrid’s summer stage arrived punctually, at 10am in Valdebebas to undergo medical revisions. One of them, Fábio Coentrão, who is recovering from a long-term injury, turned up with a doctor’s note before leaving Real Madrid City to return to his home town Vila do Conde to continue his rehabilitation.

In all, Zidane will be taking 25 players along for the summer stage, including 11 players from the lower categories, amongst whom whi two sons – Castilla midfielder Enzo and Under-19s goalkeeper Luca, who will graduate to the reserves this season. Five goalkeepers make the trip – the three firts team keepers and Luca and Álex; a higher number than usual but justifiable seeing that Keylor is still limping a little after undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon last month.

One new face who will be making the journey is Marco Asensio, who signed a contract extension yesterday and who Zidane wants as part of his squad for the new campaign – especially i f James Rodríguez ends up being offloaded. The other new face, although a very familiar one is Álvaro Morata, who will be travelling on the 20th to join the group.

The squad hardly trained at all yesterday. All were treated to a rigourous medical examonation which included having measurements taken (height and weight), blood and urine analysis as well as other tests. Following this morning’s session, the players will lunch in Valdebebas before being taken to Barajas airport from where they will depart for Montreal at 15:30 hours; the flight will last eight hours.

Real Madrid will set off for Montreal this afternoon after passing medical revisions yesterday. Zidane has included both of his sons, Enzo and Luca in the squad.

Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas, Casilla, Rubén Yáñez, Álex Craninx and Luca.
Defenders: Varane, Danilo, Carvajal, Marcelo, Nacho, Lienhart, Tejero and Achraf.
Midfielders: Casemiro, Isco, Kovacic, Llorente, Asensio, Ødegaard, Enzo and Febas.
Forwards: Benzema, Jesé, Mayoral and Mariano.