Gareth Bale is set to miss Real Madrid’s Champions League showdown against his former side Tottenham.
Real manager Zinedine Zidane suggested on Monday that the Wales international, 28, has not recovered from the calf problem that has ruled him out for most of the last month.
Real head to London for the second competitive meeting between the two clubs in a fortnight.
Bale was sidelined for the first meeting with his former club at the Bernabeu 13 days ago with the same injury that ruled him out of Wales’s 1-0 defeat by Ireland, a result that cost them a play-off spot for next year’s World Cup.
The forward was again absent as the Spanish and European champions succumbed to a 2-1 defeat away to newly-promoted Girona in La Liga at the weekend.
The result left them eight points behind Barcelona, the leaders, after ten games, a deficit that has been overturned only three times at such a stage, and nursing an open wound as they fight it out with Tottenham for top spot in their group.
Zidane hinted that Bale is likely to miss a Champions League reunion with Tottenham after simply replying “I don’t know” when quizzed on the Wales forward’s wellbeing.
Bale is suffering with his 10th calf problem since moving to Spain, and the eighth in his left calf. Real have said he has not torn the muscle.
OPINION
Bale’s latest injury blow is a huge disappointment for not only the player and Real, but also all those looking forward to him lock horns with his former club during this autumn. The dazzling attacker has established himself as a key player for the winner of the last two Champions League titles, even if injury restricted his influence last season. Bale had begun the new campaign in decent fettle, with three goals and four assists from nine Real matches, impressive although far from Kane or Ronaldo-esque numbers. Nevertheless, the former Spurs is a brilliant player to watch when in full cry and neutrals will miss seeing him in action. The Tottenham defenders will privately be very thankful.