At this point last season, Real Madrid's first-team players had already missed 39 games through injury. This season, leaving aside the players who arrived at the campaign already hurt, the count of games lost to a new muscle injury is one. According to AS, Fede Valverde is the only player who has missed a match that way, after the Clásico at the Camp Nou, and nobody has picked up a muscle injury since.
From 39 games to one
The comparison is stark. AS counts 39 games missed by first-team players by this stage of last season, without including those who were carrying injuries from the previous year or picked them up over the summer. Add those in and the total climbs to 62.
Antonio Rüdiger, David Alaba, Dean Huijsen, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dani Carvajal, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Dani Ceballos and Franco Mastantuono all had muscle problems in the first months of last season. Madrid had to lean on academy players more than once despite a squad of close to 25.
AS credits José Mourinho and his staff for the change, with every player's minutes and training load closely managed. Mundo Deportivo names fitness coaches Antonio Pintus and Antonio Dias and sports science head Sandro Carriço as part of that work.
The players who were already hurt
The list of absentees isn't empty. Rodrygo, Thiago, Éder Militão, Ferland Mendy and Raúl Asencio have all had limited minutes, but every one of them started the season with the problem. Mendy has been out since April and is close to returning, Militão and Thiago are easing back in, and Rodrygo, who's recovering from a serious knee injury, is expected back after Christmas.
The one seperate case right now is Tchouaméni. He's back in training at Valdebebas after a right groin scare and is targeting the league game against Celta on Nov. 21, according to LiveScore.
What it means in the table
The availability shows up in the results. Madrid are second in LaLiga with 30 points from 12 games, three behind Barcelona, after winning 10 and losing two. They've conceded just 10 goals, level with Atlético Madrid for the best defense in the league, and they've won all five of their home games, scoring 17 and conceding three.
Barcelona still have the attack, with 48 goals to Madrid's 31. But with the injury list nearly empty and the plan, per Mundo Deportivo, to clear it entirely before the end of the year, Mourinho will head into December with almost his whole squad to pick from, something his predecessors rarely had.
