Rodrygo To Miss El Clásico

Rodrygo was taken off clutching his right hamstring in the 86th minute of Real Madrid’s midweek Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund. The Brazilian winger seemed to injure himself whilst keeping the ball in play which led to his team’s third goal of the night, completing their comeback.

After the match, he posted on X saying “With faith, this injury won’t be a big thing” alongside an image of him nursing the pain.

Madrid have scheduled scans on Thursday to confirm when the player will return, but according to reports, he will be unavailable for Saturday’s match.

The 23-year-old featured in his 54th UEFA Champions League match which saw Madrid produce a remarkable comeback from 2-0 down at halftime. Five second-half goals, including a hat trick from Vinicius Junior, saw Los Merengues pull off yet another magical night at the Santiago Bernabéu, running out 5-2 winners.

Previously described as “pure magic” by former team-mate Nacho Fernandez, Rodrygo will no doubt be pulling out all the tricks to get fit as soon as possible. Reuters suggests that he could return for the Valencia match next week.

Some might argue that this is the most anticipated Clásico since the Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo years. Both Madrid and Barcelona boast squads with incredible young talent, formidable goalscorers and a packed midfield. But key absences could be key in deciding who takes the share of the spoils on Saturday.

Rodrygo joins a growing list of Brahim Díaz, Dani Carvajal and David Alaba on the sidelines. Knowing that Carlo Ancelotti likes to select his most trusted players for the big games, we would likely see a bolstered midfield in El Clásico rather than the likes of Arda Güler taking Rodrygo’s place. This would mean Jude Bellingham would push on to a more advanced role next to Vini Jr and Kylian Mbappe.

Barcelona have the almighty task of taking on Bayern Munich in preparation for El Clásico and are already looking thin on the ground themselves. Ferran Torres, Frankie De Jong and Marc-André ter Stegen are just some of the names on the Catalan’s injury list.