Thibaut Courtois will play no part in Sunday's Clasico at the Spotify Camp Nou. Real Madrid have ruled their goalkeeper out with a severe bout of influenza, handing Jose Mourinho a selection headache for the tenth round of the Spanish league. Ukrainian Andriy Lunin steps in between the posts for the eagerly awaited clash with Barcelona.
Spanish newspaper Marca reported that the call came after hours of uncertainty. Courtois woke on Sunday morning feeling rough, and the club spent the day weighing up whether he could feature. His condition only worsened. That settled it, and Real decided he would stay in Madrid rather than travel to Barcelona.
This was no minor ailment, according to the newspaper. The Belgian suffered symptoms of a severe influenza that prompted the medical and technical staff to rule him out. They refused to gamble with his fitness in a match of this magnitude, and feared the infection might sweep through the rest of the squad.
Lunin inherits a golden chance. He is set to play his first minutes of the season after spending recent weeks as Courtois's understudy, and now faces one of the toughest fixtures on the calendar. A big performance from the Ukrainian is the only way to paper over the loss of one of Real Madrid's biggest names.
Mourinho had already made his feelings clear. He backed Lunin publicly while admitting how hard it was to find him game time, with Courtois, a man he rates among the best goalkeepers in the world, standing in his way.
The Portuguese said of Lunin in earlier remarks: "He deserves to play, and I am not joking. He works hard every day, competes with the best goalkeeper in the world, and shows a positive spirit in every training session." He added that the difficulty of fielding both goalkeepers at once does not override the principle of merit.
Losing Courtois stings both tactically and emotionally. He has been in fine form of late, his saves keeping Real afloat in several matches. Compounding the problem are the absences of Brazilian Vinicius Junior, Raul Asencio, Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo.