The great news for the Real Madrid defence is that Raphael Varane trained this Sunday morning with the rest of the squad. The Frenchman has been living his own personal injury nightmare although he can now see light at the end of the tunnel.

On 11th May 2013, the French centre-back injured his right knee during Real Madrid's away trip to Cornellà. Since then, he has had surgery, made the odd appearance here and there, and generally made a painfully slow recovery.

Carlo Ancelotti was unable to field the young Frenchman until the Champions League game against Copenhagen on 2nd October. He also played against Levante, and relapsed as his knee swelled up due to the presence of liquid on the joint. Despite this, the centre-back continued playing, two games on, two games off, even with France (World Cup play-off against the Ukraine) until 20th November when he said enough is enough.