Fifa virus punishes Real Madrid with over 44 hours in the legs
Seven of Los Blancos' twenty footballers who left on international duty played the entirety of the two friendly matches for their countries, something Zidane has to deal with. Jamaica vs USA: Gold Cup live
The 20 internationals that left Real Madrid to represent their countries during the break will be reincorporated into Zinedine Zidane's preparations with 2,649 more minutes in their legs, that's over 44 hours.
This is the toll that the 'Fifa virus' (the term now given for any international impact on club players) has had, with Los Blancos players having clocked up a combined total of 127,617 kilometres in their travels. Only Kiko Casilla, Theo Hernández, Marcos Llorente and Karim Benzema have spent the last week training in Valdebebas.
International minutes plus travel toll
Seven of the 20 players summoned by their countries played the full 180 minutes of the two friendlies. They were Carvajal and Ramos (Spain), Keylor Navas (Costa Rica), Marcelo and Casemiro (Brazil), Kroos (Germany) and Ceballos (Spain U-21). Only the Spanish duo of Lucas Vázquez (33 minutes) and Nacho (39 minutes) have played less than 90 minutes. The star of the show against Argentina, Isco, didn't actually complete either of the games but was involved in 135 minutes of play with La Roja. The Malaga-born midfielder played 59 minutes against Germany and 76 minutes were enough to give him the match ball against La Albiceleste.
This accumulation of minutes and trips to various parts of the globe comes immediately ahead of a very busy April schedule for the current double-European champions. Zidane's squad has six matches to navigate across 19 days between the dates of March 31 and April 18, with four Liga games crossing with the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Juventus. Los Blancos will not see a break in this run until the weekend of April 22, when their planned match against Sevilla is postponed due to the Copa del Rey final on Saturday 21 against Barcelona.
Real Madrid schedule March 31 - April 18
| Day | Date | Time | Opponents | Competition |
| Saturday | 31 March | 18:30 | Las Palmas-Real Madrid | LaLiga Santander |
| Tuesday | 3 April | 20:45 | Juventus-Real Madrid | Champions League |
| Sunday | 8 April | 16:15 | Real Madrid-Atlético | LaLiga Santander |
| Wednesday | 11 April | 20:45 | Real Madrid-Juventus | Champions League |
| Sunday | 15 April | 20:45 | Málaga-Real Madrid | LaLiga Santander |
| Wednesday | 18 April | 21:30 | Real Madrid-Athletic | LaLiga Santander |
Fifa virus punishes Real Madrid with over 44 hours in the legs
Marcelo en el Alemania-Brasil. 180 minutos. 6.923 kilómetros.
Casemiro en el Rusia-Brasil. 180 minutos. 6.923 km.
Keylor Navas en el Escocia-Costa Rica. 180 minutos. 4.272 km.
Dani Ceballos en el España-Estonia Sub-21. 180 minutos. 3.927 km.
Kroos ante Paulinho en el Alemania-Brasil. 180 minutos. 3.793 km
Dani Carvajal en el España-Argentina. 180 minutos. 2.898 km.
Sergio Ramos recibió antes del España-Argentina una camiseta conmemorativa por los 150 partidos con la Selección que cumplió contra Alemania. 180 minutos. 2.898 km
Borja Mayoral en el España-Estonia Sub-21. 177 minutos. 3.927 km.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) marcando el segundo gol a Egipto. 158 minutos. 3.473 km
Gareth Bale marcó un 'hat-trick' a China. 152 minutos. 20.753 km
Isco marcó un 'hat-trick' a China en el Wanda Metropolitano.
Mateo Kovacic en el Perú-Croacia. 124 minutos. 19.902 km.
Marco Asensio en el Alemania-España. 121 minutos. 2.898 km.
Luca Modric en el Perú-Croacia. 90 minutos. 19.902 km.
Raphael Varane tras el Francia-Colombia. 90 minutos. 6.415 km.
Achraf, con Marruecos, en una imagen de archivo. 90 minutos. 5.330 km.
Jesús Vallejo en un entrenamiento de la Sub-21. 90 minutos. 3.927 km.
Luca Zidane, en uno de los amistosos Sub-20 entre Francia y Estados Unidos disputados en el Pinatar Arena. 90 minutos. 762 km.
Nacho en el Alemania-España. 39 minutos. 2.898 km.
Lucas Vázquez en el España-Argentina. 33 minutos. 2.898 km.
15% of effort for country
The 24 members of the first team squad (which includes Luca Zidane) have played 8,321 minutes with their national teams across the four international windows this season. This figure represents 14.8% of the total number of minutes that the Real Madrid players have used in official matches.
Minutes and travel distance of Real Madrid playes during international break March 2018
| # | Player | Fifa break | TOTAL SEASON TO DATE | ||||||||||
| Km. | Min. | Country | Club | TOTAL | % | ||||||||
| 1 | Keylor | 4.272 | 180 | 450 | 2.970 | 3.420 | 13,16% | ||||||
| 13 | Casilla | — | — | — | 1.350 | 1.350 | |||||||
| 30 | Luca Zidane | 762 | 90 | 90 | 779 | 869 | 10,36% | ||||||
| 2 | Carvajal | 2.898 | 180 | 270 | 2.830 | 3.100 | 8,71% | ||||||
| 3 | Vallejo | 3.927 | 90 | 360 | 554 | 914 | 39,39% | ||||||
| 4 | Ramos | 2.898 | 180 | 553 | 2.831 | 3.384 | 16,34% | ||||||
| 5 | Varane | 6.415 | 90 | 360 | 2.811 | 3.171 | 11,35% | ||||||
| 6 | Nacho | 2.898 | 39 | 339 | 2.949 | 3.288 | 10,31% | ||||||
| 12 | Marcelo | 6.923 | 180 | 419 | 2.771 | 3.190 | 13,13% | ||||||
| 15 | Theo | — | — | — | 1.288 | 1.288 | |||||||
| 19 | Achraf | 5.330 | 90 | 509 | 1.074 | 1.583 | 32,15% | ||||||
| 8 | Kroos | 3.793 | 180 | 540 | 2.648 | 3.188 | 16,94% | ||||||
| 10 | Modric | 19.902 | 90 | 629 | 2.500 | 3.129 | 20,10% | ||||||
| 14 | Casemiro | 6.923 | 180 | 630 | 3.022 | 3.652 | 17,25% | ||||||
| 18 | M. Llorente | — | — | — | 942 | 942 | |||||||
| 20 | Asensio | 2.898 | 121 | 420 | 2.186 | 2.606 | 16,12% | ||||||
| 22 | Isco | 2.898 | 135 | 460 | 2.439 | 2.899 | 15,87% | ||||||
| 23 | Kovacic | 19.902 | 124 | 250 | 1.354 | 1.604 | 15,59% | ||||||
| 24 | Ceballos | 3.927 | 180 | 618 | 715 | 1.333 | 46,36% | ||||||
| 7 | Cristiano | 3.473 | 158 | 473 | 2.967 | 3.440 | 13,75% | ||||||
| 9 | Benzema | — | — | — | 2.386 | 2.386 | |||||||
| 11 | Bale | 20.753 | 152 | 332 | 1.727 | 2.059 | 16,12% | ||||||
| 17 | Lucas V. | 2.898 | 33 | 33 | 2.039 | 2.072 | 1,59% | ||||||
| 21 | Mayoral | 3.927 | 177 | 586 | 772 | 1.358 | 43,15% | ||||||
| TOTAL | 127.617 | 2.649 | 8.321 | 47.904 | 56.225 | 14,80% | |||||||
Those who have put in the most minutes with their countries are Casemiro (630), Modric (629) and Ceballos (618). In the case of Ceballos - and the same applies to Mayoral - his participation has been with the U-21 side and has accounted for 40% of his total activity. Vallejo has a similar split with club and playing time for La Rojita.
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