Following Wednesday’s Clásico at Camp Nou, Real Madrid were straight back to training this Thursday morning to begin preparations for their final game of 2019 against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday at the Bernabéu.

And the big news from Thursday’s session was the return of James Rodriguez to training with the rest of the group. After picking up a knee injury in mid-November while on international duty, the Colombian midfielder completed his first full training session with his team mates in more than a month and looks close to returning to the fold.

Madrid look to round off 2019 with Athletic win

Marco Asensio, who is expected to miss most of the season due a torn ACL sustained in the summer tour, Lucas Vazquez, Marcelo and Eden Hazard continued their respective recoveries away from the group.

Meanwhile, the players that took part in Wednesday’s Clásico completed a light recovery session, with normal proceedings expected to resume on Friday as Los Blancos look to round their year off with a win against Athletic following two back-to-back draws against Valencia and Barcelona.