They are undefeated in their last 30 games, 25 of which have been wins. They have scored in all of their last 24 games – and yet a dodgy ankle has Real Madrid sweating ahead of the biggest match of any Spanish League Calendar – El Clasico with hated archrivals Barcelona.
Said dodgy ankle belongs to the super athlete that is Gareth Bale. While it is too early to confirm how long he'll be out, Madrid are still sweating -
"Bale suffered an injury, but he needs a thorough examination tomorrow to see the extent of it," Zidane said. "It is too soon to say how long he will be out for or the size of the problem.
"We will see, so I don't know yet if he will be for the Clasico."
Bale had impressed in the first half of Los Blancos' UEFA Champions League group stage game against Sporting Lisbon – as he has all season but limped off with midway through the second period after a challenge that hit him on the right ankle, from Sporting's Sebastian Coates in the 58th minute
He is slated to have tests today that will confirm the severity of the injury that had him sprawled on the impeccable turf of the Jose Alvalade stadium in agonizing pain.
Being the fighter that he is, he attempted to continue the game after undergoing lengthy treatment on the sidelines, but within a minute signaled his inability to continue.
The Welsh superstar – an integral part of the BBC trio that is pivotal to Madrid's success and has already notched up 5 goals and 2 assists in La Liga; and 2 goals and an assist in the Champions League
Meanwhile, in the game yesterday, Real Madrid went on to concede a penalty (which Sporting scored) and then snatch the win with a Karim Benzema goal.
Zidane was pleased with the fighting spirit shown by his players -
"We had our difficult moments in the game but that is normal,'' he said. "In the previous game against us Sporting played with the same intensity and they didn't drop their heads after going behind. But we managed to score a wonderful second goal through Karim Benzema.
It was important that we won here; we achieved what we came to get. We are going to play a final against Dortmund now."
If they manage to beat Dortmund in that game, they would top the group – but that game comes just 3 days after El Clasico and Bale could very well miss out on that too!
Madrid are currently four points clear of Barcelona, and face Luis Enrique's men on December 3rd at Barca – and they could do with Gareth Bale tearing up and down the flanks of the Camp Nou.
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