Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane faces an anxious few days during the international break as he mulls a potential starting 11 to face Atletico Madrid in the capital city derby next week.
The Frenchman's options ahead of his toughest Liga fixture of the season to date are becoming increasingly limited. The heart of Zidane's first-choice defence, Sergio Ramos and Pepe, have been absent in recent weeks, the captain suffering a knee injury on international duty in Albania last month and the Portugal defender limping off during the victory over Alaves because of a hamstring problem that has ruled him out of the trip to the Calderon.
Ramos' case is slightly more encouraging and he is expected to resume full training next week, but his inclusion in the match day squad is far from guaranteed.
However, it is the midfield that will have Zidane's head throbbing between now and Nov. 19. Toni Kroos joined Real's lengthy injury list after last weekend's win over Leganes, during which he fractured a bone in his foot. It is likely to sideline the Germany international for the rest of the year, although he has an outside chance of making the Club World Cup in Japan. But that is at the bottom of Zidane's list of priorities at the moment with away games at Atletico and Barcelona looming in the league and the small matter of beating Borussia Dortmund to top spot in their Champions League group also pending.
Casemiro, who has been on the sidelines since he fractured a bone in his leg against Espanyol on Sept. 18, is pushing to be fit for the derby, but Real would have preferred to ease the defensive midfield linchpin back into competitive action in a more sedate fixture such as the Copa del Rey return against Cultural Leonesa or the visit of Sporting Gijon a few days earlier.
Throwing Casemiro into the fray against one of the toughest midfields in the league at the Calderon could be a recipe for fresh disaster and Zidane will only risk doing so if there is no other choice.
Luka Modric returned from his latest injury layoff as a substitute against Leganes. The key midfielder's month-long absence could potentially have been avoided had he not played through pain in his knee against Las Palmas and Dortmund. That situation was brought about by Real's inability to cope without both the Croatian and Casemiro in the 1-1 draw against Villarreal in the Bernabeu -- Zidane's first setback of the season.
It remains to be seen whether Croatia coach Ante Cacic will squeeze the full 90 minutes out of Modric in the qualifier against Iceland on Saturday. Cacic has intimated that he will, to which Zidane replied that Modric was not ready to play a full game -- a slightly hypocritical stance as the workload imposed by the Real boss led directly to exacerbating his injury in the first place. In any case, watching the action unfold in Zagreb will add a few beads of sweat to Zidane's brow this weekend.
To make matters even more worrying for Zidane, Mateo Kovacic reported for international duty carrying a knock from the Leganes game. The junior partner in Real's Croatian midfield duo has been in excellent form in the absence of his compatriot and is the obvious candidate to fill in for Kroos and Casemiro in the holding role against Atletico, allowing Modric to push higher up the pitch where his influence is more keenly felt.
In an ideal world, Zidane will get a white Christmas early and the pair will return unscathed from international duty: Modric has at least been given leave to skip a friendly against Northern Ireland next week. But ideal is not how Real's injury woes this season are best described. Of the main nucleus of the first team squad only Dani Carvajal has yet to miss a game through injury. That may be a small blessing in the greater scheme, but at least it has rationed Danilo's defensive stylings to a minimum.
In the best-case scenario, Zidane will be able to call on the spine of his side for the trip to the Calderon: Ramos in defence, Modric in the middle and the full BBC, with Karim Benzema on track to make the derby after sitting out the Leganes game with a knock. Kovacic has earned an extended run in the side as has Isco whose defensive statistics against Alaves, one of the top five sides in Europe in terms of tackles per game, were the most impressive of either team.
Any further injury setbacks before next weekend involving Zidane's regulars will be a considerable blow. Defeat to Atlético would end the only unbeaten record in the division and also allow Barcelona to potentially overhaul Real's two-point lead before the Clasico at Camp Nou. Zidane has a balancing act to pull off in the Calderon and his safety net is getting thinner by the day.