MADRID.- The goalkeeper is expected to real Madrid, Thibaut Courtoiswill miss Saturday’s classic against Barcelona after the Belgian suffered a muscle injury during Tuesday’s Champions League match.
Courtois suffered “an injury to the adductor of his left leg,” the team said on Wednesday.
The Belgian goalkeeper recently recovered from another adductor injury. He missed almost all of last season with an ACL injury.
The goalkeeper had already missed another match in the continental tournament against Lille and the domestic match against Villarreal due to an adductor muscle injury. The most likely thing is that the Ukrainian Andriy Lunin will replace him.
For his part, Rodrygo could also miss the classic, as coach Carlo Ancelotti indicated on Tuesday, this after the forward came off as a substitute in the 85th minute in Madrid’s 5-2 victory against Dortmund.
The white team is three points behind Barcelona in the Spanish standings.
Spain fights for the Champions League final
Azerbaijan and Spain declared their interest in hosting the men’s Champions League final in 2027 after UEFA reopened bidding to host European football’s biggest club game.
The match will take place at the Olympic Stadium in Baku or the Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid after UEFA considered them as the two interested parties on Wednesday.
The final proposals must be presented on March 19, UEFA added. The final decision on the venue will be made in May.
The entity’s executive committee reopened the bidding to be the venue in 2027 after it was decided not to award the final to the San Siro stadium in Milan.
UEFA had given the city of Milan more time to demonstrate that the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium would be available, even though it would be refurbished between the ceremonies of the 2026 Winter Olympics and the 2026 European Championship. Local authorities were unable to give guarantees.