Real Madrid have reportedly been dealt a huge blow ahead of the Madrid Derby on Sunday (September 24), as midfielder Jude Bellingham left training early on Friday.
Bellingham, 20, has hit the ground running since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund this summer in a €103 million move. The English midfielder scored in his first four La Liga starts and also netted in Los Blancos's 1-0 midweek win at home to Union Berlin in their UEFA Champions League opener.
However, just days after that narrow victory, Bellingham left training early due to stomach issues, as reported by AS. There are two days to go for the Madrid derby, so the Valdebebas medical staff reckon the 20-year-old could feature against Atletico at the weekend.
The midfielder has played all but nine minutes of Real Madrid's six games across competitions this season, so fatigue could be a factor. After training without any discomfort on Thursday, he felt unwell in the gym session on Friday before the players went out for training.
The club will be confident of Bellingham's quick recovery, though, as he has a relatively clean injury record. He missed only four games in three seasons at BvB due to injury (as per Transfermarkt).
What did Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham say after netting late winner against Union Berlin?
Jude Bellingham has made a dream start to his Real Madrid stint. After scoring in his first La Liga game for Los Blancos, he repeated the trick in his maiden Champions League outing for the record 14-time champions.
Madrid left it late against Berlin on Wednesday. With the game destined to end goalless, Bellingham scored in the fourth minute of injury time from a corner to give Madrid a winning start to their European campaign.
After the last-gasp win, the English midfielder said that he has 'goosebumps' talking about his start to life at Madrid (as per Daily Mail):
"I get goosebumps just talking about it now. I’m just so grateful to be at this club."
He added about his dramatic late winner:
"We dominated the game. I don’t remember them having too many clear-cut chances, but they defended really well because they were so organised.
"It was just that mentality that we have shown all season that even if there are setbacks, we just keep going until the end, and I always believe there will be chances, and it is just about being in the right position to take them."
Real Madrid next take on an Atletico side who are eight points behind them in the league standings but have a game in hand. The match takes place on Sunday, September 24 at Civitas Metropolitan Stadium.