JAKARTA - Karim Benzema was forced to leave the El Clasico at Santiago Benabeu on Sunday (20/3) tomorrow after the Real Madrid striker suffered a thigh injury.
The club initially released a photo of the final pre-match training session on their official website on Saturday, in which it was stated that Benzema and full-back Ferland Mendy had trained indoors separately.
Later manager Carlo Ancelotti via a pre-match press conference confirmed Benzema and Mendy will not be able to take part in El Clasico.
"Benzema and Mendy will not play tomorrow and next week they will start training again with the team," he was quoted as saying on Real Madrid's official website on Saturday.
Benzema played the full 90 minutes last Monday (14/3) and scored twice, just five days after being the hero of Los Blancos' success overturning Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on aggregate in the second leg of the Champions League last 16.
The appearance against PSG is what Ancelotti wants to duplicate in the El Clasico later. Moreover, in addition to the prestige of Barcelona, for El Real the match is also important in order to maintain a position in the hunt for the Spanish League title.
"We will try to play like we did against PSG. We want to do our best and it will be a game with many aspects," said Ancelotti.
"We can't think of just doing the right thing to win. Our game must be complete, because we are facing a strong team who are in a positive trend. We have to be brave to press, play the ball well, be able to get out of the defense and play vertically. "
"If we win tomorrow, we have three more points and are closer to winning the league. All teams will definitely fight until the last game," he said at length.
Real Madrid currently occupy the top of the standings with a collection of 66 points, 10 points ahead of Sevilla in second place and 15 points from Barcelona who have one game to spare.
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