Real Madrid news: Reinier, Marcelo, Varane, Militão...
Today's bitesize Real Madrid news features a raft of birthdays, landmarks for Marcelo and Raphaël Varane, an unbeaten run, and more...
Back to work at Valdebebas
After being given Sunday off, the Real Madrid squad are back to work on Monday as they begin preparations for Wednesday's Copa del Rey third-round tie with Unionistas Salamanca. Los Blancos, who kept pace with leaders Barcelona by beating Sevilla 2-1 in LaLiga on Saturday, were due in at 11:00 for their first training session of the week at Valdebebas.
Monday training update: Bale and James both go through their paces after missing win over Sevilla
Two (and a half) Real birthdays
Madrid defenders Nacho Fernández and Éder Militão both celebrated their birthdays on Saturday. Now in his ninth season in the first team, youth product Nacho reached the landmark age of 30, while summer signing Militão turned 22.
Meanwhile, a seeming Madrid player-to-be was also blowing out the candles this weekend, as Reinier Jesus hit 18 - a birthday that now leaves the way clear for the LaLiga club to confirm the Brazilian's signing from Flamengo.
See also: Reinier on Madrid trip: "I had a few private issues to see to"
Madrid milestones for Marcelo, Varane
Marcelo made his 350th LaLiga appearance for Real Madrid in the win over Sevilla, with club president Florentino Pérez presenting the 31-year-old with a special shirt marking the milestone. In total, Marcelo has now played 498 times for Los Merengues.
Pérez was also on hand to commemorate a landmark appearance for Raphaël Varane, who brought up 300 games in all competitions for Real Madrid.
17 games unbeaten after Sevilla win
Having not lost since going down to Real Mallorca in October, Real Madrid's weekend victory extended their recent unbeaten streak to 17 games. However, they are still quite a way off their best ever undefeated run, which saw them set a new Spanish record by going 40 matches without loss between April 2016 and January 2017.
On this day...
Appointed following the end of Miguel Muñoz's 14-year tenure in the Bernabéu hotseat, Luis Molowny kicked off his first stint as Real Madrid coach on 20 January 1974, suffering a 1-0 home defeat to Granada. Across a total of four spells in charge, Molowny would steer Madrid to three LaLiga titles, two Copas del Rey and two UEFA Cups.