Zinedine Zidane and Toni Kroos have lamented Real Madrid's growing injury issues after full-back Dani Carvajal limped off in Sunday's 2-0 win over Valencia.
Carvajal was making his first appearance for Madrid since January 2 but lasted just 28 minutes before sustaining an apparent injury to his right thigh.
He has been restricted to 12 games in all competitions this term and is now considered a big doubt for the Champions League last-16 first leg with Atalanta on February 24.
The Spain international joins the likes of Sergio Ramos, Eder Militao, Alvaro Odriozola, Eden Hazard, Rodrygo, Federico Valverde and Marcelo on the sidelines.
Madrid boss Zidane is concerned about the long list of injuries he has had to contend with this term and is unsure why so many players have been ruled out of action.
"There are a lot of injuries," he told Movistar. "I'm worried because when you lose a player it bothers me. It's a relapse [for Carvajal].
"I'm sorry for him because he was fine to play and is a very important player to us. But I can't explain all these injuries."
Asked if the packed fixture schedule is to blame, with Madrid playing nine times since the turn of the year, Zidane said: "I'm not going to get into that.
"We already have enough trouble. The calendar is what it is. We didn't have a normal pre-season and there are many injuries.
"I hope to get my players back but I'm not going to get involved in the rest."
Lucas Vazquez replaced Carvajal at right-back and slotted in seamlessly by teeing up Kroos for Madrid's second, 30 minutes after Karim Benzema had opened the scoring.
Kroos, who scored and assisted a goal in the same Madrid match for the first time since November 2018, joined Zidane in bemoaning his side's injury nightmare.
"It worries us a lot, of course. We are without important players," he said. "Dani has come back from three injuries in a row - it's not right, we don't like it.
"But the others have to do as much as possible. We can't change the situation, just accept it."
Valencia managed just one attempt on target at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano - Maxi Gomez's shot from range - in what was a routine third successive league win for Madrid.
Zidane's men have now kept back-to-back clean sheets and the Frenchman is pleased with the improvement made by his side at the back.
"That much is evident," he said. "We believe a lot in what we do. We are overcoming difficulties and there is a lot left for us to give."
Madrid, who have now gone 13 home LaLiga matches without losing to Valencia, are five points adrift of Atletico Madrid having played two games more than the league leaders.
But two-time title-winning boss Zidane is not yet giving up hope of chasing down rivals Atletico, who Madrid face at Wanda Metropolitano on March 7.
"We are going to continue doing what we are doing," he said. "We are not going to look at what others are doing. Today we played a very good game.
"They all defended very well without the ball and when got forward we caused a lot of damage. We have to continue in this way."
Valencia head coach Javi Gracia has won only one of his eight LaLiga games against Madrid and took full blame for his side's lacklustre display in the Spanish capital.
"It was a bad game from us," he said. "I do not know if it was our worst of the season but one of the worst. The intention was to be more aggressive, it was very easy for them.
"The coach has the maximum responsibility in everything. This is a step backwards in our trajectory. From the first minute we have not been able to demonstrate anything.
"We have not seen options to achieve anything positive here. We could not even link two passes"
Rumour Has It: Man City and Real Madrid to prioritise off-season Gvardiol signing
Josko Gvardiol won plenty of admirers during Croatia's run to the 2022 World Cup semi-finals.
The 21-year-old central defender is contracted until 2027, but has a hefty release clause that will become active in 2024.
As a result, clubs are likely to be competing to secure the Croatian's services in the next transfer window.
TOP STORY – CITY AND REAL PRIORITISE GVARDIOL SIGNING
Manchester City and Real Madrid have both made RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol their priority centre-back target for the next transfer window, according to 90min.
The report claims Leipzig wants £75m (€85m) for the Croatian defender, who almost joined Chelsea last off-season.
City and Real are also both in contention to sign Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, complicating the Gvardiol move.
The report also claims City are willing to offload Aymeric Laporte to help facilitate any move.
ROUND-UP
– Liverpool are the favourites ahead of Manchester City in the race to sign Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount in the off-season, reports Football Insider.
– Manchester United are keeping an eye on Joao Felix 's situation with the Atletico Madrid forward currently on loan at Chelsea, claims Mundo Deportivo. Chelsea have been linked with a permanent deal for the Portuguese.
– The Sun claims Leicester City are keen on re-signing Harry Maguire on loan from Manchester United amid talk he will exit Old Trafford.
– Arsenal 's desire to land Dusan Vlahovic from Juventus could see the Gunners offer up Granit Xhaka and Nicolas Pepe as part of a deal, reports Calciomercatoweb.
– Fichajes claims Manchester City and Chelsea will battle it out to sign Milan full-back Theo Hernandez.
– Barcelona have prioritised a move for Liverpool winger Luis Diaz in the next transfer window, according to Fichajes.
St Louis' perfect start ended by Minnesota, Bernardeschi nets Olimpico for Toronto
Expansion franchise St Louis City's perfect start to their inaugural MLS season was ended by Minnesota United who triumphed 1-0 after Luis Amarilla's 78th-minute penalty on Saturday.
City had made MLS history by winning their first five games but that was ended by the Loons with Amarilla drilling home the spot kick after a needless challenge by Kyle Hiebert.
Hiebert brought down Amarilla just inside the box with a rash tackle when Jakob Nerwinski appeared to have Kervin Arriaga's wayward pass under control.
Substitute Samuel Adeniran came closest to equalising for St Louis, with a 95th-minute shot going over the bar after a great first touch from Klauss' right-wing cut back.
St Louis remain top of the table with 15 points from six games, but unbeaten Minnesota climb up to fourth in the Western Conference.
Cincinnati continued their impressive start to the season with a 1-0 home triumph over Inter Miami who slumped to their fourth straight defeat.
Yerson Mosquera scored the 45th-minute winner for Cincy, who are top of the Eastern Conference.
Giorgos Giakoumakis scored an early winner as Atlanta United moved up to second in the East with a 1-0 home win over New York Red Bulls, who are down in 12th in that conference.
Jordan Morris and Leo Chu scored first-half goals as Seattle Sounders stayed second in the West with a 2-1 victory at LA Galaxy, who are without a win and have only three points from five games.
LAFC remained unbeaten and third in the West despite a 0-0 draw at the winless Colorado Rapids, while SJ Earthquakes climbed to fifth with a 2-1 victory over Houston Dynamo with all three goals coming from penalties.
Vancouver Whitecaps snapped a run of three straight draws with a resounding 5-0 win over 10-man Montreal with Simon Becher scoring a double. Becher is the fastest player (87 minutes) in MLS history to score his first four goals.
Franck Boli rescued a 1-1 draw for Portland Timbers at Dallas, Chicago Fire and DC United drew 0-0 and Nashville triumphed 2-0 at Orlando City.
Federico Bernardeschi netted another spectacular goal with a strike straight from a corner in Toronto's 2-2 home draw with Charlotte.
Sporting KC remained winless after a 0-0 draw at Philadelphia Union, New England drew 1-1 with New York City and Real Salt Lake suffered their fourth straight loss, going down 4-0 to Columbus Crew.
Allegri storms out of Juventus win before final whistle - 'We didn't play very well'
Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri says his side "didn’t play very well" leading to him storming down the tunnel before full-time in their 1-0 home win over Verona.
The Bianconeri secured their fifth straight win in all competitions with Moise Kean's 55th-minute strike the difference.
But Allegri was unimpressed with his side and stormed down the post-side tunnel before the full-time whistle.
"We didn't play very well and I think in the last five minutes we had to go and score a second goal, keep pushing them and maintain the pressure," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
"It doesn't seem like much five minutes, but all Verona needed was a long ball into the box and anything could happen. We could've been here licking our wounds if they had equalised.
"It was a complicated match, as they always are after the international break. It was a tough game and we knew it was going to be because Verona make you play badly, they press all over the pitch.
"That's why we were blocked in the opening minutes, then we managed to move the ball around and create chances.
"We could have done better once we had taken the lead and double our advantage, without giving them a chance to get near our area. It's something we need to improve on."
The win keeps Juventus in the hunt for European qualification, although their 15-point deduction, means they are seventh on 44 points. Juve (44) are behind fourth-placed Milan (48), Atalanta (48) and Roma (47) in the race for Europe, with all but Atalanta having a game in hand.
Allegri was quick to point out if not for that deduction they would be on 59 points and subsequently second in Serie A. Juve will have their appeal against that penalty heard on April 19.
"This result means we have earned 59 points on the field, closing the gap on Inter and momentarily on Milan and Lazio," he said.
"We've got Inter on Tuesday in the Coppa Italia and then Lazio on Saturday, so we’ve got to be ready.
"In football if you have a good run of results, that allows you to catch up pretty quickly. We have to take it one step at a time.
"The 'real' table that we see there shows we are still four points off the Champions League spots and that is a lot."
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