Real Madrid are set to welcome back midfielder Fede Valverde and right-back Dani Carvajal for Saturday’s crunch clash against La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid.
Uruguayan midfield Valverde sustained a fissure in the posterior tibial spine of his right leg in the 4-1 defeat at Valencia before the international break and has missed the last six fixtures for Los Blancos.
Carvajal has played just twice since September – in the 2-0 win at Inter and draw at Villarreal – having had knee and hamstring injuries.
Marca now report that he is hopeful of being involved in this weekend’s Madrid derby clash along with Carvajal, who has been replaced in the starting line-up by Lucas Vazquez in recent weeks.
The 22-year-old has grown into a prominent role whereby he has been preferred in starting line-ups ahead of Luka Modric and even Toni Kroos, who replaced him at the Mestalla earlier this month.
It continues the recent run of positive Real Madrid news, with the club having no fresh injury worries from recent matches with captain Sergio Ramos returning to action in Wednesday night’s victory over Borussia Monchengladbach.
Eden Hazard and Martin Odegaard are two of the star Madrid players who remain unavailable while both Luka Jovic and Mariano Diaz are also still not in the reckoning, leaving Karim Benzema as the only recognised striker who is fit and available.