Gareth Bale and Luka Modric injuries threaten Real Madrid progress in Champions League
The duo could miss the second leg against Atletico Madrid
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Your support makes all the difference.Real Madrid have injury concerns ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Atletico Madrid. Midfielder Luka Modric could miss the rest of the domestic season, after picking up a knee ligament injury and Gareth Bale is doubtful with a calf problem.
Modric and Bale both went off during Real’s 3-1 victory over Malaga on Saturday, in which Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 50th goal of the season.
“A sprained medial collateral ligament of his right knee has been diagnosed,” a Real statement said of Modric.
The loss of the Croat is a major blow for coach Carlo Ancelotti before Wednesday’s home game, with the tie level at 0-0 after the first leg.
Modric is expected to miss six weeks which would rule him out of the final six games of the campaign in La Liga, with Real trailing the leaders Barcelona by two points.
He could be available for the Champions League final on 6 June if Real make it. Winger Bale is also having tests on a calf injury after going off injured in the fifth minute against Malaga.
The former Mainz manager Thomas Tuchel will replace Jürgen Klopp as coach of Borussia Dortmund this summer, the Westphalian club have announced.
Klopp revealed last Wednesday that he would be leaving Dortmund at the end of the season, saying he no longer felt he was the right man to take them forward.
Tuchel, who took charge of Mainz a year after Klopp left the club to join Dortmund in 2008, has been out of work for a season, having taken a break from the game.
He remains under contract with Mainz until the end of June, from which moment he will become the new head coach of Dortmund.
A Dortmund statement read: “Tuchel will receive a three-year contract.”
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