Zinedine Zidane will be desperately hoping for a routine win against Granada this weekend. Even better if Barcelona can slip up, it would take the pressure off him again for at least a week. Unfortunately things might not be that simple.
Real Madrid were already under pressure after drawing 2-2 with Club Brugge during the week, now it looks like a pile up of injuries in defence will cause a selection crisis this weekend.
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It looked like Nacho and Mendy were already injured, but reports from Spain go on to suggest that Marcelo has suffered a neck injury which rules him out of the game this weekend:
? Marcelo, baja ante el Granada. Ha recaído de su lesión en el cuello/cervicales.
? Zidane no podrá contar con ninguna de las 3 opciones para el lateral izquierdo (Mendy, Marcelo y Nacho).@elchiringuitotv@DeporteslaSexta
— José Luis Sánchez ?? (@JLSanchez78) October 4, 2019
It’s not clear how long the Brazilian will be out for, but a neck injury doesn’t sound like something you want to mess about with.
The main issue for Zidane is this leaves him without any obvious option to play at left back. Realistically he will need to pull a right back over to cover in that position. The other alternatives would be to play his favourite Lucas Vasquez out of position or even return Gareth Bale to where he started his career.
With the team not playing well, the last thing he wants is an obvious weakness in defence for the opposition to exploit. You have to feel a bad result here could be the tipping point for him.