Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti has suggested that Rodrygo, Aurelien Tchouameni and Lucas Vazquez could all be fit for his side's Champions League clash with Liverpool on Wednesday night.
The trio were again absent on Sunday, as Los Blancos beat Leganes 3-0 in La Liga courtesy of goals from Kylian Mbappe, Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham.
Ancelotti was directly asked about both Tchouameni and Vazquez after the clash, and the Italian hinted that the pair could return against Liverpool, in addition to Rodrygo, who suffered a muscular problem against Osasuna on November 9.
"Will Lucas Vazquez and Tchouameni be available for Anfield? We don't know yet. We will try to recover everyone," said Ancelotti during his post-match press conference on Sunday night.
Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal are out for the season with ACL injuries, while David Alaba is not yet ready to return from a serious knee injury of his own, but Real Madrid could receive a triple injury boost for the trip to Liverpool.
Real Madrid trio Rodrygo, Tchouameni, Vazquez could return vs. Liverpool
Valverde played as a right-back against Leganes, while there was a full debut in the middle of the defence for Raul Asencio.
Arda Guler and Dani Ceballos also earned starts, with the pair impressing in the three-goal success for the champions, which moved them back into second spot in the La Liga table, just four points behind the leaders Barcelona.
"Asencio's performance is practically perfect. Not only is he solid, but he also has the calm to handle delicate situations with and without the ball on his debut as a starter," Ancelotti added.
"We changed the position of the strikers, with Mbappe outside and he did well, as did Vinicius in the middle. The team controlled very well, we had good feelings against Osasuna, and today we confirmed that.
"Ceballos contributed a lot, and Arda contributed a lot with his creativity in the final third, and he was close to scoring goals, but he played a complete match. They are players we can trust at this moment."
How have Real Madrid performed in the Champions League this season?
Real Madrid have won two and lost two of their four matches in the Champions League this season, beating Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund but suffering losses to Lille and AC Milan.
Los Blancos are down in 18th position in the Champions League table, which would be enough for a playoff spot, but they are currently three points off eighth, which would mean automatic qualification for the next round. body check tags ::