Not an easy blow for Real Madrid. According to a report from today (Friday) in ‘Marca’, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will not be fit for the Clasico and will not play against Barcelona on Sunday (17:15, live on channel ONE). The place of the outstanding goalkeeper of the Whites between the posts will be taken by the Ukrainian Andrey Lunin.
Carlo Ancelotti confirmed throughout the week that Courtois will play against Barcelona and that his condition is improving, but the Belgian did not train with his teammates today either and his participation was completely ruled out according to the Spanish media. His recovery from the injury did not progress as expected and the Whites will not take any risks with him, as the fear is that his early return will aggravate the injury.
Lunin, who started in the last games of the European champions, will continue to fill his place as he did in the last four games, twice against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League as well as against Getafe and Ossuna in the league. There is still no estimated date for Courtois’ return, with Lunin, who has conceded three goals in his four games this season, hoping to fill his friend’s big shoes.
The 23-year-old Lunin was born in Ukraine and started his career in Dnipro. He came to Real in 2018 from Mazury Luhansk. Until recently, he played mainly on loan at Leganes, Valladolid and, starting in 2020, also at Oviedo, until he returned to the Whites and established his status as Real’s second goalkeeper starting in July 2020.
Meanwhile, the silent war between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain continues. If Kylian Mbappe’s saga that stirred world football this summer and caused a rift between the luxury clubs was not enough, it seems that now there is a new factor in the game that increases the tensions between the Blancos and the Parisians.
According to a report in ‘Marca’, Paris is still interested in strengthening the brake and although the name of Milan Shkriniar from Inter is currently above all the other candidates, another candidate is actually the future brake of Real – Rafa Marin. The defender of Real Castile has a contract with the club until 2024 and PSG’s approach in his case will be similar to the one they took at the club in relation to Carlos Soler and Fabian Ruiz – to court the player and join him as a free agent at the end of his contract.
The City of Lights club highly appreciates Marin due to his personality, body structure and his handling of the ball and sees him as a high potential. In PSG, they see that Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militau, David Alaba and Nacho Fernandez are ahead of the young stopper in the hierarchy as an advantage and as a situation where in Madrid they don’t care enough for Marin.
The entourage of the 20-year-old player has always given priority to Real Madrid, but is flattered and tempted by interest from France. Despite this, a transfer at the moment is considered a very complex matter and therefore in PSG they are studying the situation of the brakeman from now on. So why complex? “There is no club in the world with a worse relationship with Real Madrid than PSG, and vice versa. The ‘Mbappe case’ and the Super League weakened the relationship that was good until recently and led to its breaking. As of now, we can talk about institutional enmity” – this is what Marka wrote. By the way, Marin has a release clause of 30 million euros, but in the capital of Spain, in any case, they do not intend to make it even a bit easier on Paris.
And on another matter, with the exception of Real Madrid who have already advanced to the round of 16, it seems that the other Spanish teams are having a very difficult time this season in the Champions League. Although Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Sevilla have not yet been eliminated from the factory, but according to a report in ‘AS’ it turns out that their failure in the form of not qualifying for the next stage will be worth a lot of money to the European champions.
In a situation where the three teams will indeed be eliminated already in the group stage, the Blancos may earn up to 7.8 million euros in additional income just from qualifying for the eighth round – an amount not far from what they receive for winning the prestigious tournament (9.6 million euros). The reason? The awards that UEFA distributes depend on the performance of the other clubs representing that country and in case of failure of the other Spanish clubs, Real will benefit from the loser.
The profit that Real may make depends on how far the teams will go in the factory (meaning how many of them will be eliminated at an early stage) and how far Carlo Ancelotti’s players will go on their own. This season, each Spanish club is guaranteed a minimum of 3.9 million euros, an amount that each team will receive in the event of relegation already in the group stage. If Barcelona, Atlético and Sevilla do not pass the houses, the Blancos will earn another 4.7 million euros and later they can take another 3.1 million until they reach a final amount of 11.7 million euros if they reach the final.