Valverde played 40 minutes injured in Clásico as Real Madrid face three away games in seven days

Real Madrid left Camp Nou on Sunday night with three points and a fresh injury concern after José Mourinho confirmed that Fede Valverde had played through pain during the 2-1 Clásico victory over Barcelona — a result that cuts the gap to the league leaders to three points.

Mourinho singled out the Uruguayan in his post-match press conference, saying Valverde “played injured for more than 40 minutes”. The coach added: “He got injured, wanted to continue, pushed himself to his limits, and gave everything while he was on the field.” At the time of writing, Real Madrid had not published a medical report, and Mourinho did not specify the nature of the injury or when it occurred. Valverde had started alongside Aurélien Tchouaméni, Bernardo Silva and Jude Bellingham.

The timing is awkward. Mourinho noted that his side face three consecutive away fixtures in the space of seven days: Racing Santander on 1 November, AEK Athens in the Champions League on 4 November, and Valencia on 7 November. The club’s next medical update on Valverde will be closely monitored before the trip to Santander.

Valverde was not the only fitness concern heading into the Clásico. Thibaut Courtois was ruled out on matchday with a flu-like illness, with Illia Voloshyn called up as emergency cover and Andriy Lunin deputising in goal. Lunin impressed, making a fine stop from a Gerard Martín header in the 66th minute according to the club’s own match report. Mourinho’s message to Lunin before kick-off was characteristically direct: “You train to play, not to sit on the bench. Go and play.” He also moved to dismiss any suggestion the squad had been unsettled by the late change, saying “today none of us cried before the match because Thibaut wasn’t playing”.

Courtois, whose future has been the subject of discussion around a possible one-year contract extension, now has a few days to recover before Madrid’s next fixture.

Despite the injury concerns, Mourinho had reasons to be satisfied with the depth of his squad. Eduardo Camavinga was left among the substitutes — days after a strong performance in the 4-1 win over RB Leipzig — yet came on to set up the late winner for Kylian Mbappé. Mourinho pointed to that as evidence of his options, saying: “I have a rich bench, with players who can be starters.”

The win was Madrid’s fifth in succession. Keeping that run intact across three away games will be considerably easier with Valverde fit and available.