Courtois down with flu as Real Madrid head to Camp Nou six points behind Barcelona
Real Madrid confirmed on Sunday morning that Thibaut Courtois will miss El Clásico with flu symptoms, calling up Illia Voloshyn. Barcelona go into the 8pm (Lisbon time) kick-off on 27 points from nine straight wins, six clear of José Mourinho's side, who are also without the suspended Vinícius.
Thibaut Courtois will not be in Real Madrid’s goal for tonight’s Clásico. The club confirmed a last-minute absence on Sunday morning, saying the Belgian had woken up with flu symptoms, and called up Ukrainian keeper Illia Voloshyn to make up the numbers. Andriy Lunin is expected to start in Barcelona.
Courtois was still on the official Real Madrid squad list for El Clásico published on Saturday, alongside Lunin and Mestre. Twelve hours later, it had changed.
A six-point gap
The LaLiga matchday 10 game kicks off at 9pm in Spain, which is 8pm in Lisbon now the clocks have gone back, at Camp Nou. The table going in is blunt. Barcelona have won all nine league games so far and sit on 27 points. Real Madrid have 21.
Win tonight and Barça go nine clear before October is out. Lose, and the title race is very much back on.
Who else is missing
The goalkeeper is the latest absence, not the only one. Vinícius Júnior serves the second game of a four-match ban after his red card against Villarreal, and will also miss the trips to Racing and Valencia. Rodrygo is still working alone at Valdebebas, Raúl Asencio is coming back from surgery on a stress fracture in his right tibia, and Ferland Mendy is training with the group but did not make the list.
Madrid still travel with plenty, from Mbappé and Bellingham to Valverde and Arda Güler. But reshuffling the goal and the left wing in the same week is nobody’s idea of ideal preparation for a trip to the leaders.
Mourinho back at Camp Nou
The man in the away dugout has a Portuguese passport and a long memory of this fixture. José Mourinho left Benfica for the Real Madrid job in June, and returns to Camp Nou more than a decade after his first spell at the Bernabéu, this time with a side that needs points more than nostalgia.
Portugal’s own Sunday of football started with the leaders too, as FC Porto made it nine wins from nine in Barcelos. Tonight, the attention moves to Catalonia.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Junta de Andalucía / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
