Real Madrid are wrestling with injuries once again. Six members of the Los Blancos squad are currently receiving treatment, leaving the club with exactly the same number of players sidelined at this stage as they had a year ago.
Cutting down on injuries was one of Real Madrid's key aims for restoring their competitiveness. Physical problems have long been a source of tension at the club, which grew frustrated by the 60 injuries that piled up across last season, according to Spanish newspaper "Marca".
Only Vinicius Junior, Gonzalo Garcia, Brahim Diaz and Fran Garcia escaped unscathed. The rest missed time to varying degrees. Absences defined the campaign, with seven players injured across four separate months and the tally peaking at 11 in November.
The crisis, though, shows no sign of ending. The international break has taken its toll, and coach Jose Mourinho now finds himself without six players: Rodrygo, Militao, Mendy, Mbappe, Valverde and Konate.
Real Madrid have racked up 9 injuries so far this season, matching the figure from the same period last year. The injury woes inside Los Merengues simply refuse to go away.
Mourinho, remember, had already been forced to navigate the first five matches with seven players missing from each one.
The squad return to training tomorrow, Monday, after a week off, and face a tricky spell until the international players come back.
Just six first-team players will be available to Mourinho over the coming days: Courtois, Lunin, Carreras, Rudiger, Asensio and Tchouameni.
Not a single striker features on that list. Beyond it lie six injured players and 14 away with their countries, including Thiago Pitarch, who joined the Spain Under-20 team after featuring yesterday for Real Madrid Castilla.
A cursed break
There is little Mourinho can do during this window to sharpen the team's performance or drill specific areas. He will simply focus on getting his available players ready and folding in youth team members to fill out the upcoming training sessions.
He will also be hoping the "FIFA virus" spares his players any further damage, after a break that brought injuries to Konate and, above all, Mbappe. That came on top of Valverde's problem in the derby before the international break.
The three most recent knocks do not appear too serious. None of the trio, Valverde, Mbappe and Konate, has been ruled out of the Villarreal match on 10 October.
Militao's return
Encouraging news is also filtering out of the treatment room. Militao looks set to rejoin training with the Los Blancos side, and the Brazilian could start partially reintegrating from tomorrow.
Marca report that the centre-back recently saw the doctor who operated on him for a serious tendon injury last April. That doctor gave him the green light to return to training as a final step towards full recovery. His return now hinges on how quickly he progresses alongside his teammates and how long he needs to reach peak fitness, though October remains the likely target.