Real Madrid given positive Thibaut Courtois injury update

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois returned to training on Wednesday after being ruled out of the recent Copa del Rey win over Cacareno with a minor injury.

Courtois wouldn’t likely have played the game in Caceres in western Spain anyway, having rarely been used in the competition in recent years. But the Belgian didn’t make the trip at all as a precaution.

Courtois kept a clean sheet against Real Valladolid last Friday in Los Blancos’ final game of 2022 and first game since the World Cup. It is now expected that he will start against Villarreal on Saturday.

Dani Carvajal and Mariano Diaz both trained individually indoors on Wednesday, but Marca has reported that both are still on course to make the squad at the weekend.

Real Madrid went back level on points with Barcelona atop La Liga after the latest round of fixtures, making up for a shock defeat to Rayo Vallecano in November by capitalising on Barça failing to beat Espanyol in their city derby.

When Real travel to the east coast at the weekend, Carlo Ancelotti will be expecting a better-quality pitch than the one his side played on against Cacareno.

“We couldn’t play the way we planned because of the state of the field,” Ancelotti said at the time.

“We are not used to playing like this but I am satisfied with the performance. It’s difficult to fully assess the game because it was difficult to play due to the pitch. You can’t play football like that. This is not football and the stadium needs more work. Such things should be monitored by the officials.”