In the 48th minute of Real Madrid’s trip to Athletic Bilbao on La Liga’s opening day on August 12, Eder Militao dropped to the turf at San Mames and was substituted shortly after in tears.
In the 82nd minute of Sunday’s home meeting with Athletic — Madrid’s 30th league game of the season — a low murmur grew into wide applause at the Santiago Bernabeu as fans began to realise Militao was warming up.
With Madrid 2-0 up, assistant coach Davide Ancelotti gestured to fitness trainer Antonio Pintus that the Brazilian should be ready to take to the field in three minutes.
Militao eventually got his chance in added time because the ball didn’t go out of play for a long while. Eventually, goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, hearing shouts from the crowd, team-mates and even his coach, threw the ball off the pitch so the substitution could be made.
Militao’s participation was symbolic rather than a test ahead of the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Manchester City at home next Tuesday. As The Athletic has reported, Carlo Ancelotti will choose between Nacho and Aurelien Tchouameni to partner Antonio Rudiger in the centre of defence.
But Madrid and Ancelotti wanted to reward him after “many difficult days” of effort and suffering, as the player himself acknowledged on Sunday.
“It’s a joy I can’t explain,” the 26-year-old told Real Madrid TV. “How many times did I think about the moment? Many. It had to be here, at home, coming back against the team I was injured against.”
Militao being helped off the field on La Liga’s opening day (Diego Souto/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
The first big step in Militao’s recovery came early, on August 17. That was when he underwent surgery for a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The procedure was carried out by Dr Manuel Leyes, who had previously operated on his team-mate Thibaut Courtois and would later operate on Arda Guler and Courtois again.
This was the start of a period that would demand a lot of physical and mental strength from the player and many hours of hard work away from the main group.
Jaime Salom, one of the first team physiotherapists, was his shadow during all of this, guiding Militao’s recovery at all times and in every place. They worked together at the club’s Valdebebas training ground as well as at the player’s home in the well-known luxury La Moraleja urban development to the north of Madrid. He has also supervised work through phone and video calls when distance or schedule would not allow another way.
Such has been their close involvement that the physio was present at the Bernabeu on Sunday. Salom had lost his mother only days before, but he still wanted to be present for Militao’s return — as the centre-back wanted him to be — and Rodrygo dedicated a goal to him.
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In moments of rest, there has been another key person for Militao: his daughter, Cecilia, who was born in July 2022. Family and friends have been pillars of support, as has his deep religious faith.
All of these figures helped Militao make good early progress. In November, some reports suggested he would make a quicker return than had been expected. His recovery period was initially estimated to be between seven and eight months, but Madrid did not want to set a concrete timeframe, emphasising instead that it would be impossible to know for sure when he would come back and that the process should not be rushed.
In early December, there was more positive news, with Militao already back to work on the Valdebebas pitch, albeit only for training at reduced intensity.
In January, his renewal until 2028 was publicly announced — despite it having been signed in the summer of 2022 (Madrid have followed a similar pattern of delayed announcements with Vinicius Jr’s contract and that of Rodrygo’s). It was a very special day for him and those close to him and the affection of president Florentino Perez helped keep the momentum going.
Madrid’s 2-0 win over Athletic maintained their eight-point La Liga lead (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
Little by little, Militao was getting closer to working with Juan Carlos Parrales, one of Madrid’s specialists who help with an injured player’s return to first-team action. At the beginning of February, sources close to the player said they were hopeful he could reappear in early March.
That ended up being delayed slightly and after a training match against Real Madrid Castilla players during the international break later that month, with Alvaro Rodriguez his main opponent, it became clear that Militao still needed more time.
Even now, after the reward of his brief appearance against Athletic, there is a little way to go before he reaches full fitness. But Sunday’s decision was made in the knowledge that otherwise he would have had to wait until April 14 — when Madrid play at Mallorca — before feeling like a footballer again.
“The recovery process has been very, very good,” says one Valdebebas specialist. “But now he has to get into a rhythm and that can take time — getting minutes little by little. For example, he is far from his level in acceleration and sprinting.”
But the worst is over for Militao and soon, he will have his full reward because Ancelotti will be counting on him with his usual confidence.
(Top photo: Diego Souto/Getty Images)
