The good news at Valdebebas on Monday morning was standing slightly apart from everyone else.
While Jose Mourinho put his squad through the final session before Tuesday’s trip to Elche, the Eder Militao Real Madrid recovery story moved into what Spanish reporting describes as its closing stretch – the Brazilian working with the club’s recovery staff and physios on pitches one and two, visibly closer to the group than he has been in months.
Where the Eder Militao Real Madrid recovery stands
Militao has been out since April, when he suffered a rupture of the proximal tendon of the biceps femoris in his left leg during the match against Alaves. He was operated on in Finland, and the rehabilitation has been measured in months rather than weeks – the kind of hamstring tendon injury that punishes anyone tempted to rush it.
Mundo Deportivo report that he is now in the final phase of that process and that everything points to him being available to Mourinho after the September international break. That is a significant marker – and, read carefully, a slightly later one than the timeline being briefed a fortnight ago.
Elche and the derby both come too soon
The immediate consequence is straightforward. Militao is one of three absentees for Tuesday’s 21:30 CEST (20:30 UK) kick-off at the Martinez Valero, alongside Rodrygo and Ferland Mendy. Both of those two are further away still; Rodrygo’s knee problem has been framed as a long-term absence, while Mendy’s thigh injury has kept him out since pre-season.
More painfully for Madridistas, a return timed to the other side of the break means Militao is not part of the derby at the Metropolitano on 20 September either. Mourinho has already been reported to have settled on the back line he wants for that afternoon, and it is a back line assembled around the players who are fit rather than the ones he would choose in an ideal month.
That is not a crisis. Dean Huijsen, Antonio Rudiger and Ibrahima Konate give Mourinho three senior central defenders, with Raul Asencio back in training and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Denzel Dumfries, Marc Cucurella and Alvaro Carreras covering the flanks. But Militao at his best is the quickest recovering defender at the club, and a side that has looked uncomfortable defending transitions in the opening weeks would take him back tomorrow if it could.
Valverde comes through, and the schedule turns kind
Elsewhere in Monday’s session there was a second piece of reassurance. Captain Federico Valverde, withdrawn at half-time in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Rayo Vallecano, trained without any problem and should be available at the Martinez Valero barring a late surprise. The 15 minutes open to the media showed activation work and rondos, with the club’s own account describing a tactical phase, pressing and possession drills, then small-sided games and shooting to finish.
The calendar, for once, helps. After Elche and Atletico, Madrid do not play again until 10 October, and they do not return to the Santiago Bernabeu – where they have been whistled in all four home games this season – until Villarreal visit on that date, as Mundo Deportivo noted. Three weeks without a fixture is exactly the runway a player finishing a tendon rehabilitation wants.
The verdict
Get through the next six days with the defenders he has, and Mourinho comes out of the international break with his first-choice centre-back rebuilt and a home crowd to win back. Two away games first, though – and on the evidence of the Bernabeu’s mood so far, nothing about this autumn is going to be handed to Los Blancos.
