Varane suffers third left thigh injury in 10 months

Defender out for a month

Posted Wednesday, April 05, 2017 by Marca.com

On Tuesday, Real Madrid confirmed that the injury picked up by Raphael Varane against Alaves was a grade two tear to his left femoral biceps muscle.

While the news is bad in itself, more worrying is the fact that it is the third such type of thigh injury he has picked up in the past 10 months.

It is becoming a turbulent period for a player who seemed to have put his early injury concerns behind him.

His fitness problems were a particular concern when he was forced to undergo a meniscus operation in May of 2013, which was followed by an inflammation which kept him out of action for an even longer period of time.

The current thigh problem, which will sideline Varane for a vital month of April for Real, is the same one which saw him miss out on the Champions League final and Euro 2016 last year.

After shrugging off those summer problems, he returned to the fold at the start of the season, playing in the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla, and seemed to be back to his best until he went down with another left thigh issue during Los Blancos' loss at Valencia.

After six games out of action, rests for Sergio Ramos and Marcelo brought him back against Alaves, partnering Pepe with Nacho moved to left-back.

However, his comeback lasted just 10 minutes as the old problem with his left thigh struck yet again and forced him to be withdrawn early, replaced by Dani Carvajal and he now faces another period away from the pitch.