REAL MADRID
Carvajal hopeful over injury tests
Dani Carvajal says he feels "a little bit of pain" but is hopeful the injury he suffered in Real Madrid's Champions League win at Bayern Munich on Wednesday is a minor one.
Dani Carvajal says he feels "a little bit of pain" but is hopeful the injury he suffered in Real Madrid's Champions League win at Bayern Munich on Wednesday is a minor one.
The Spain international has been a key part of Madrid's side this term as their first-choice right-back, playing 67 minutes in Munich as Zinedine Zidane's men won their semi-final first leg 2-1.
But the Spain international appeared to be suffering with a thigh strain for a while in the game, eventually forcing his withdrawal for the much-maligned Karim Benzema.
He is considered very unlikely to feature against his hometown club Leganes on Saturday and a doubt for the return leg against Bayern three days later.
But Carvajal says he is "calm", shrugging the injury off as an "occupational hazard".
"I'm waiting for the tests to see what's going on in there," Carvajal claimeds.
"I'm calm, I feel a little bit of pain, but in the end they are the occupational hazards, they are situations that athletes expose themselves to. I'm waiting, but I hope it's the as little time as possible."
Although Madrid take a 2-1 lead back to the Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg against Bayern, Carvajal is not getting ahead of himself and reminded people such a result still required extra work when they faced each other in the quarter-finals of last season's competition.
"Then at home we were forced to extend it [the lead]," Carvajal said of their 2-1 win at Bayern last term. "Next Tuesday it will be a final for us because we want to be in Kiev.
"It was difficult and intense and Bayern had a great game, but we had a lot of effectiveness and here the one that scores the most goals wins.
"We were effective, but there are still 90 minutes left and we will have to suffer."
