Real Madrid face Malaga with seven players missing from final training session

Real Madrid were without seven players for Saturday’s training session before Sunday’s La Liga meeting with Malaga, with Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy, Raul Asencio, Aurelien Tchouameni, Thiago Pitarch, Rodrygo and Endrick all absent from the group.

The players are continuing with individual recovery programmes as Real Madrid prepare to host Malaga at Santiago Bernabeu in the third round of the Spanish league season.

Militao and Endrick trained at a nearby ground rather than at the club’s main training facility. The pair completed a range of physical exercises before moving on to work with the ball.

Tchouameni was also not seen during the first part of the training session. Speaking on Spanish radio station COPE, journalist Arancha Rodriguez provided an update on the midfielder’s situation.

“Mourinho explained it very well a few days ago. Tchouameni wants to play now, but the coaching staff prefer him to make a full recovery. I would also like to remind you that he renewed his contract at the beginning of the summer,” Rodriguez said.

Real Madrid will go into Sunday’s fixture having won both of their opening league matches. They began the campaign with a 2-1 victory over Espanyol before recording a 4-1 win against Real Sociedad.

The meeting with Malaga will take place at Santiago Bernabeu, as Real Madrid seek to maintain their perfect start despite the number of players currently following separate recovery plans.

The club’s full list of absentees for the session consisted of Militao, Mendy, Asencio, Tchouameni, Pitarch, Rodrygo and Endrick. No further details about the individual conditions of the seven players were provided in the report, although their continued rehabilitation meant they did not take part in the main training group.

The training update came one day before Real Madrid’s home match, with attention now focused on whether any of the absent players can return to team training after the Malaga fixture.