Real Madrid Scheduled to train on Monday

It has been almost a month since Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal last trained or played with his teammates, but he is now closing in on his comeback.

The situation started at 9pm on September 30, when Real Madrid announced that the full-back would not take part in their game against Espanyol the following day.

"After tests carried out today, Carvajal has been diagnosed with a viral condition," read a statement.

"It is a pericardium problem and he will be analysed."

His recovery began immediately with the former Bayer Leverkusen man forced to rest for several days, as is required with pericarditis.

Since then, he has been sidelined for Los Blancos' three LaLiga games in October, as well as their Champions League clash with Tottenham and first Copa del Rey game of the campaign.

But good news came this week for both Zinedine Zidane and the player when he shared a small video on his Twitter account of him exercising in the gym at Valdebebas, with a message accompanying it expressing how delighted he was to do so.

His recovery couldn't be going any better and on Saturday, he underwent stress tests to evaluate, among other things, the current condition of his heart.

All tests were passed and so the defender now plans to return to the training field on Monday and rejoin his teammates as quickly as possible.

The totally unexpected illness to Carvajal forced Zidane to rethink his entire defence because until that point, the right-back had been an ever present.

He had featured in every minute of every game this season across all competitions and his illness was a big blow for the league champions.

Zidane was forced to choose between deploying Nacho in that role or promoting Achraf, who was a more natural replacement and in the end he opted for the youngster.

He debuted against Espanyol before featuring against Getafe, Tottenham and in the Copa del Rey, with Nacho only starting against Eibar when Achraf was rested.

Real are very pleased with how the young man performed, particularly in the Champions League when he surprised many, but they are now eagerly anticipating the return of Carvajal, a key player for Zidane.