Los Blancos are already missing several of their best options at the back
Real Madrid suffered another blow to their back line as Eder Militao sustained an injury in the first half of Sunday’s 2-0 home loss to Celta Vigo.
The defender went down early in the first half as he charged to make a clearance and had to be replaced by Antonio Rudiger. Manager Xabi Alonso was shown looking dejected while the defender was down.
Celta went ahead early in the second half through substitute Williot Swedberg, and the pressure increased when Fran Garcia was sent off for a pair of late challenges in the 64th minute.
Madrid’s pain was compounded in stoppage time when Alvaro Carreras received a second yellow card for dissent and foul language. After the home side had been reduced to nine men Swedberg added a second goal to seal the upset.
The defeat leaves Madrid now four points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona, but alarm bells are also ringing over the mounting injury list.
In addition to Militao, defenders Dean Huijsen and David Alaba remain sidelined, and Rudiger only recently returned from injury. Meanwhile, full-back options are limited with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dani Carvajal, and Ferland Mendy all unavailable.
Militao’s latest injury adds to his long list of recent troubles. He has suffered cruciate ligament tears in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons that saw him out for nearly the entire season in each case. Madrid will be hoping this was not a similar case.
After the match, manager Alonso said the player’s injury had affected his team.
“We’re angry, it wasn’t the game or result we wanted,” said Alonso. “The injury to Militao hurt us, it was hard to recover. We tried to adjust things, but it wasn’t the game we wanted.”
