Real Madrid lose Varane to hamstring injury

That confidence was unlikely to have been assured, though, by a nervous final 15 minutes in Ukraine on Wednesday as Madrid slipped from cruising into a 4-0 lead away to Shakhtar Donetsk to holding on for a 4-3 win.

“Reacting the way the team did after the game against Barcelona and going 4-0 up in the Champions League is really positive, ” the Spaniard said after the Shakhtar victory.

Los Blancos were still reeling from back-to-back league defeats, with the 3-2 loss to Sevilla under a fortnight ago followed by a 4-0 battering at home to rivals Barcelona in El Clasico. We have a boss who is a top coach and knows what he is doing. Benitez made a series of changes in Lviv with Brazilian midfielder Casemiro one of those to come in to add extra bite to the midfield.

Tomas Roncero of Spanish daily AS alleged Benitez told the Colombian his drop from the XI was due to the fact “there are better player performing than you”.

“I am here for what Benitez tells me to do, he is a great coach”.

Real are already through to the last 16 of Europe’s elite club competition as section winners and are third in La Liga after 12 matches, two points behind second-placed Atletico Madrid and six adrift of leaders and champions Barcelona.

Isco is banned after his frustrated kick out at Neymar last weekend.

Defender Raphael Varane is a doubt with a hamstring problem suffered during the Champions League tie.

The injury leaves the La Liga challengers with a decimated back line, with Varane joining both Sergio Ramos and Marcelo on the sidelines for the weekend’s game against Eibar on Sunday, likely leaving Pepe and Nacho Fernandez as the starting centre-backs.

Eibar are in sixth place, and have no intention of rolling out the red carpet at the 6,000-capacity municipal stadium in Ipurua.

“Rafa is all about the team, he is not a fan of individual players”.