Raphael Varane trained away from the rest of the Real Madrid squad for the second day running on Friday, causing him to become a serious doubt for the game against Sporting Gijón on Saturday (16:15 CET).

Varane a doubt 

It has not yet been communicated by the club what exact problem the French defender is suffering from, but after being confined to just gym work since his goalscoring appearance in the Champions League on Tuesday night, his participation at the Bernabéu this weekend now looks unlikely.

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Ramos, Pepe or Nacho

In which case the options left for Zinedine Zidane to replace Varane at centre back are Sergio Ramos, Pepe or Nacho. However this in itself poses a problem for the Blancos coach with Ramos just one yellow card away from sanction and at risk of missing El Clásico if fielded on Saturday.

The other possibilities are Pepe and Nacho, but the Portuguese is not 100% match fit after only just recovering from a hamstring injury and having completed just two full training sessions. Fourth-choice centre back Nacho meanwhile has hardly played so far this season.

Kroos making progress

Better news for the club following the announcement that Gareth Bale will require surgery and faces a lengthy spell out, is that Toni Kroos is progressing well with his rehabilitation and now back running and kicking the ball again after fracturing his foot.