Real Madrid Get Their Walking Wounded Back for Villarreal

After a fortnight of counted heads and scanned knees, Real Madrid have been handed the injury lift they badly needed. Ibrahima Konaté rejoined group training on Tuesday morning, and the club expect him, Kylian Mbappé and Federico Valverde all to be available for Saturday's LaLiga meeting with Villarreal at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Konaté's quick turnaround

Konaté's setback came late last month, when a knee injury picked up on France duty in the Nations League sent him straight back to Valdebebas for treatment just as his Real Madrid career was finding its rhythm. Two weeks later, the 27-year-old was back on the grass with José Mourinho's squad, and he is now in line to feature at the weekend.

Valverde's case is the one Madrid supporters will scrutinise most. The captain was diagnosed with a grade three ankle sprain earlier this season, a layoff that at one point looked like costing him a month of the campaign. His return to the available list, alongside Mbappé, gives Mourinho close to a full deck for a fixture his side cannot afford to drop.

The Militão horizon

Further down the track, Éder Militão is targeting a November return after more than six months out. That timeline matters because of what November holds — the first Clásico of the season among it — and because Dean Huijsen's suspension has thinned the defensive options Mourinho can call on right now.

Madrid's room for error is thin in the meantime. Mourinho is still settling on his best defensive pairing, the Lunin and Asencio questions rumble on in the background, and Villarreal arrive with the sort of counter-attacking structure that punishes a back line still finding its understanding. Having Konaté available to step straight back in changes the maths on all of it.

For a squad that spent the international break absorbing bad news, this is the first bulletin that points the other way. Villarreal on Saturday will tell us how much of it was worth believing.