Praise sets off another alarm

Madrid will face its last game of 2021 under minimums. To the long list of absences that it already had due to the coronavirus outbreak that appeared in the white dressing room last week, sanctioned and injured, the team can now add the loss of Alaba. The Austrian defender did not participate in training this Tuesday, the last before visiting Athletic in San Mamés and his presence in the call to travel to Bilbao is in danger. Sergio Quirante, a Gol journalist, reported that the defender went to Valdebebas before the session to undergo a PCR test and returned home to await the result.

If Alaba’s absence is confirmed, Ancelotti will only have 14 first-team players available for the league commitment with which he will close the year. The staff has seven active cases of COVID. They are those of Modric (who, although he tested negative days later, continues to present symptoms and must still be quarantined), Marcelo, Lunin, Bale, Asensio and Rodrygo, as well as Davide Ancelotti, first technical assistant. Isco is also ill. The malagueño has shown symptoms since last Saturday, so he could not enter the call for the game against Cádiz. The first PCR tests were negative, which leads to think that it could be a common cold.

Alaba joins an infirmary where he was already Carvajal, touched since the derby against Atlético. And Ancelotti publicly ruled out the call for Ceballos at a press conference, fresh out of injury and with whom the Italian coach prefers not to risk even though he was already on the list against Cádiz. By last, Casemiro is suspended after seeing his fifth yellow of the season in the League on Sunday.

Ancelotti will have to rebuild a defense in which Alaba had 20 games in a row as a starter. In all of them, except against Espanyol, he acted in the axis of the rear. Five homegrown players trained with the first team: Rafa Marín, Miguel Gutiérrez, Blanco, Arribas and Peter.