Neither Benzema nor Jovic against Villarreal, but with Hazard

Benzema It will not be at the Estadio de la Cerámica. The Real Madrid striker began working on the sidelines in the last training session that the white team did on Friday afternoon in Valdebebas, before visiting Villarreal on Saturday (16:15, Movistar LaLiga). As his teammates began the session in two rounds, the 9 The madridista continued his career on the pitch, an indication that he was not in optimal condition to play. By then, his doubt was joined by the safe discharge of Luka Jovic, who has tested positive for coronavirus.

Finally the French did not arrive to the duel and the two casualties open the door of ownership to Mariano, the only center forward who travels to Castellón. Benzema left in the defeat against Valencia in Mestalla (4-1) with pain in the left adductor; subsequent tests revealed a strong overload and, in theory, nothing more, as Madrid did not make public any medical report on the matter. But the annoyances have persisted and Zidane has opted for caution, especially considering that on Wednesday Madrid plays at the San Siro against Inter Milan, in a duel that will largely define the future white in the Champions League.

They did not jump to the grass of fields 1 and 2 of Valdebebas Casemiro and Militao either., in theory recently recovered from COVID-19, but that in the last PCR tests gave indeterminate results, which caused them to be isolated while waiting for a new test to confirm the negative of both. Yes, Varane was, once ruled out that the blow to the shoulder with which he returned from the concentration with France had gravity. The two Brazilians did not enter the call, the French did, who will form a couple in the center of the defense with Nacho, in the absence of Sergio Ramos, who was muscularly injured with Spain. The central defender returns to a call after his muscular problems, just like Carvajal.

Odriozola, for his part, also began training by exercising alone and Ramos and Valverde continue with the process of recovering from their respective injuries. Before the casualties in the axis of the rear, Zidane shot one of Castilla's center-backs, Víctor Chust, as well as Óscar Aranda from Granada, inside-midfielder for Juvenil A.

Among the 20 chosen by Zidane, there is Eden Hazard, who has recovered from his COVID-19 infection and he has enough ballots, in view of the numerous losses of Madrid to measure himself with Villarreal, to start in the starting eleven. And the same happens with Odegaard, who already had minutes against Valencia and that in the national team break he did not play because of a positive in Norway that deviated plans. The Nordic points to the starting team in La Cerámica.

CALL FOR REAL MADRID

Goalkeepers: Courtois, Lunin and Altube.
Defenses: Carvajal, Varane, Nacho, Marcelo, Mendy and Chust.
Midfielders: Kroos, Modric, Odegaard, Isco and Aranda.
Forwards: Hazard, Asensio, Lucas, Vinicius, Mariano and Rodrygo.