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The La Liga title race has gone down to the wire with Real Madrid battling it out against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid for supremacy.
However, ahead of their crucial tie against Sevilla, Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane faces an injury crisis with key players set to miss their home game on Sunday.
Club captain Sergio Ramos, forward Vinicius Junior and midfielder Federico Valverde are among the players who could be absent from the Sevilla match.
Real Madrid could face Sevilla without captain Sergio Ramos
Sergio Ramos has been on the sidelines for over a month after suffering a muscular injury. The Real Madrid captain was forced to sit out the club's Champions League quarterfinal tie against Liverpool. Ramos only returned to Real Madrid's first team against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg.
However, as per reports by Spanish outlet MARCA, Ramos did not train ahead of the weekend's match.
Federico Valverde was another player who missed a large chunk of games last month after testing positive for COVID-19. The 22-year-old Uruguayan international tested negative twice before playing in their away game against Chelsea.
Vinicius Junior was also part of the second-leg clash against Chelsea. But neither Valverde nor Vinicius took part in the training session ahead of the Sevilla game, giving rise to fitness concerns.
Apart from the three aforementioned players, Real Madrid are certain to miss Raphael Varane, Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez through injury. The only positive news is that their first-choice left-back Ferland Mendy is set to be available for their tie against Sevilla.
Real Madrid now have to rely on the likes of Nacho, Eder Militao and others to form a defensive partnership in the absence of Ramos and Varane.
The Real Madrid vs Sevilla clash is going to be a massive game for Los Blancos. With Atletico Madrid and Barcelona facing each other the day before, Real Madrid have a realistic chance of being at the top of the table on Monday.
If Barcelona and Real Madrid win their respective games, they will both leapfrog Atletico Madrid to be joint top of the La Liga table.
This is a must-win game for Real Madrid. However, injuries to crucial players have made the tie a little tricky for Los Blancos. A win for Real Madrid would also mean that Sevilla mathematically cannot win the title.
