The Miraculous Return of Bellingham, Militao, and Tchouaméni
Éder Militao, Aurélien Tchouaméni, and Jude Bellingham rejoined group training after recovering from their respective injuries, and they are pushing to be ready for the return of LaLiga. Real Madrid will visit Real Sociedad this Saturday in San Sebastián. For this match, David Alaba, Eduardo Camavinga, and Dani Ceballos are confirmed to be out due to injury.
Along with the return of the last international players —Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin and Brazilian forwards Vinícius Jr, Rodrygo Goes, and Endrick— Carlo Ancelotti received the good news of the return of three key players from his starting eleven.
Militao, who could not play with Brazil due to a muscle overload in the rectus femoris of his right leg, might be available to reinforce a defense in which only Antonio Rüdiger is at 100%. Rüdiger even declined the call-up from the German national team to focus on his club.
Aurélien Tchouaméni, who had to leave the French national team due to an issue with his left foot, has made a favorable recovery in just over a week. According to club sources, the midfielder felt good during his training session.
The biggest question mark is Jude Bellingham. The English midfielder suffered an injury to the plantar thin muscle of his right leg on August 23. Although the initial prognosis was a month-long recovery, he could shorten the timeline, but he remains doubtful for the match against Real Sociedad. Ancelotti will need to decide whether to save him for the Champions League opener next Tuesday against Stuttgart at the Santiago Bernabéu.
The coaching staff postponed Real Madrid's third weekly training session to the afternoon to include all available players. The recently returned internationals trained at the same pace as their teammates in a light session with the ball, which included pre-match exercises on a reduced-size field and finished with crossing and shooting drills.
Real Madrid will complete preparations for LaLiga's fifth matchday on Friday with a training session, during which Ancelotti will make final decisions on the players available to face Real Sociedad, before addressing the media.