Éder Militão was forced off injured in the first half of Real Madrid's 2-0 loss to Celta Vigo on Sunday, leaving Madrid with defensive worries ahead of the Champions League clash with Manchester City this week.
Militão pulled up hurt after a last-ditch defensive intervention at the Santiago Bernabéu, and had to be helped off by two members of Madrid's medical staff, before being replaced by substitute Antonio Rüdiger in the 24th minute.
Celta Vigo scored twice in the second half and Madrid saw both Fran García and Álvaro Carreras sent off as they lost the match and more ground to leaders Barcelona. Madrid now trail the LaLiga leaders by four points.
Madrid host City in the Champions League on Wednesday, with LaLiga matches with Alavés and Sevilla to follow before Christmas.
"We're angry, it wasn't the game or result we wanted," Madrid manager Xabi Alonso said after the match. "The injury to Militão hurt us, it was hard to recover. We tried to adjust things, but it wasn't the game we wanted. We have to move on as quickly as possible, there's a lot of league left, on Wednesday we have the City game in the UCL to react and remove the bad taste from our mouths."
Militão has struggled with a series of injury problems in recent years, suffering cruciate ligament tears in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
Madrid are also currently without centre-backs Dean Huijsen and David Alaba, while Rüdiger has only just returned from injury, and right-backs Dani Carvajal and Trent Alexander-Arnold, and left-back Ferland Mendy, are also unavailable.