Karim Benzema still hasn't started two weeks before the World Cup: he won't be against Rayo

Previous Direct

Karim Benzema, last Wednesday against Celtic at the Bernabéu.DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)

Two weeks before the World Cup, Karim Benzema still hasn't started with Real Madrid.

He returned last Wednesday against Celtic for the last half hour after three games away due to what the club diagnosed as "muscle fatigue", and Carlo Ancelotti said after that game that the Frenchman had felt good and would play this Monday against Rayo (9:00 p.m., Movistar).

However, he will not be in Vallecas.

“Her feelings of him are still not good.

On Friday he trained, it seemed good, but later it cost him a little more, ”explained the Italian coach this Sunday.

Of the 20 clashes that the white team will have played, this will be the eighth complete that the striker misses due to injuries or precaution, plus 60 minutes in Glasgow and another 60 at home against the Scots.

Since Benzema, who will turn 35 in December, fell off the list two weeks ago in the hours before facing Sevilla, the entity's medical report has not moved from "muscle fatigue" and all the delays in his return to the fields have been justified with the fact that the "sensations" were not entirely good.

“We look at the facts.

The facts say that he cannot play and is not going to play [this Monday]”, settled the coach in the third question in the press room about his attacker's state of health.

Discarded for this Monday, before getting on the plane to Qatar, he will only have one duel left to acquire some competitive filming: next Thursday (9:30 p.m.) against Cádiz at the Bernabéu.

Ancelotti's forecast, always optimistic in his predictions, is that he is available.

“We are not worried, it is little.

He is healthy”, assured Carletto 15 days ago, after learning of Benzema's return to the infirmary.

At first, he was ruled out for the trip to Leipzig, three days later, with the intention of recovering it without problems against Girona, last Sunday.

However, in a test he noticed that "his sensations of him were not powerful", according to club sources.

He came to undergo medical tests and "they came out well," Ancelotti pointed out.

He was then summoned for the Champions League match against Celtic, for which he was recruited

despite the fact that he was not seen in the collective training of the previous day.

He went out to the Bernabéu for the last half hour, with everything resolved, and seemed to ride well, according to the words of the white coach.

But in Vallecas, another break.

Since his coronation in Paris with the Ballon d'Or, he has only appeared on the pitch dressed in shorts for those 30 minutes against the Scottish team.

Rüdiger's Low

This mishap of "muscle fatigue" joins the one he suffered in early September in the European premiere against Celtic.

After half an hour he felt problems, he retired to the locker room and the tests diagnosed him with an injury to the semitendinosus muscle and an overload in the quadriceps of his right leg.

In that case, yes, he met the recovery deadlines and returned against Osasuna on October 2.

In that time he also missed the two clashes with France, in the last selection window before the World Cup.

With his absence again against Rayo, the Frenchman will only have played 53% of the minutes of the course with Madrid, his lowest figure since 2012-13 (52.6% overall for that course), the last Mourinho's season in Madrid and with Gonzalo Higuaín ahead in the preferences of the Portuguese coach.

In the stage that opened after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018, the striker's participation has not dropped below 80% of the minutes of a complete campaign.

“The lack of Karim in some games in this first half has allowed us to show players of great quality, such as Vinicius (10 goals and five assists), Rodrygo (seven and five) and Valverde (eight and four).

We have arranged your discharge with them.

After the break, we need Karim and we are sure that he will return to the level of last season”, concluded Ancelotti, who will lose Antonio Rüdiger until after the World Cup, with an overloaded hip.

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on