Zinedine Zidane will go back to work on Wednesday to prepare the derby against Atlético Madrid the next Saturday 19th of November. The French manager will have only 9 players to start training with ahead of the big clash against the two Spanish giants. Some other players like Casemiro, Sergio Ramos or Pepe are still injured. The others have to travel with their national teams.
Zinedine Zidane’s main concern are the injuries for these games. The coach should be especially worried for the South American players, who will have to play big games in the qualifying stage for the Russian World Cup. For instance, James Rodríguez has joined Colombia to play against Chile and Argentina. Marcelo will play against Argentina and Perú. On top of that, their last fixture will be held on Wednesday (00.30 Spanish time). So they will have less than three days to prepare the derby against Atlético Madrid.
Keylor Navas has to travel to America as well. Costa Rica will face Trinidad & Tobago and United States in the Hex tournament in the Concacaf group stages to qualify for the Russian World Cup.
In Europe, Joachim Low called Toni Kroos However, the Real Madrid midfielder is injured in his foot and he will miss all the games until 2017, so he had to come back and recover from his injury.
Cristiano Ronaldo has joined the Portuguese side after his renewal to face Latvia on Sunday, whereas Gareth Bale will face Serbia at home on Saturday. Despite Luka Modric has only played 30 minutes after his recovery from his injury, he’s been called by Croatia to face Iceland in a crucial game on Saturday. Croatia will also play a friendly game on Tuesday against Northern Ireland. Both Modric and Mateo Kovacic will be in the Croatian squad.
The Spanish players of Real Madrid will also have to work with their national team. Spain will face Macedonia on Saturday in a qualifying game and then travel to London to face England in a friendly game at Wembley. Lucas Vázquez, Nacho, Carvajal, Isco or Morata will be in the squad, whereas Marco Asensio has been called to play with the U-21 team.
