Injured Benzema, Courtois miss Madrid Club World Cup trip

Injured Real Madrid duo Karim Benzema and Thibaut Courtois are not included in the club’s 22-man squad travelling to Morocco for the Club World Cup, published on Monday.

Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy, Eden Hazard and Lucas Vazquez are also unavailable because of injury problems.

Ballon d’Or winner Benzema suffered a thigh injury in Thursday’s win over Valencia in La Liga and had to be substituted, continuing a season disrupted by fitness problems.

The 35-year-old forward missed France’s World Cup defence because of injury and subsequently retired from international duty.

Courtois also suffered a thigh problem while warming up before Madrid’s 1-0 defeat by Real Mallorca on Sunday.

The Belgium stopper was replaced by Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin for the narrow loss which left the champions eight points behind Barcelona at the top of La Liga.

Record four-time champions Los Blancos face Egyptian side Al Ahly on Wednesday in the Club World Cup semi-final, before a prospective final on Saturday.

Real Madrid have endured many injury issues this season, with David Alaba and Aurelien Tchouameni only recently returning from spells out.