In Madrid, the pause in the calendar has arrived with an unwelcome cost for Real Madrid and Uruguay. Federico Valverde has been diagnosed with a grade-three sprain of his left ankle after being hurt in last Sunday’s derby, an injury expected to keep him out for around two weeks.
The midfielder finished the match despite the problem, but had suffered the damage during the first half after a challenge from Kang-In Lee bent his left ankle. Real Madrid appealed for a red card on the pitch, yet the referee took no such action and VAR did not intervene.
Valverde’s ankle was too swollen for immediate detailed testing after the game. Once the swelling had eased, he underwent an MRI scan on Tuesday, which confirmed the severity of the sprain. The club’s medical update said he would be monitored as his recovery develops.
A missed international window
Uruguay will be without Valverde during the international break as he remains in Madrid for treatment. His availability for Real Madrid’s home meeting with Villarreal on 10 October at the Santiago Bernabéu will depend on how quickly the ankle settles over the coming days.
For a side accustomed to Valverde’s endurance across midfield and the right flank, the timing is particularly awkward: an injury sustained in the intensity of a derby now carries into a period that would ordinarily have taken him back across the Atlantic with his national team.
