Real Madrid deliberately disclosed misleading medical information about injured players

There was no surprise when Real Madrid has released its squad list for Wednesday's Champions League clash with Lille, due to the fact Kylian Mbappe was on it. The French forward was ruled out for around three weeks with a hamstring problem less than seven days ago, but Mbappe is in contention to play.

The reason, second Reliefit is due to the policy of the club to treat injuries. Los Blancos rarely if ever give recovery periods in their official medical updates on injuries, but will “unofficially” provide a recovery time for local media.

Those recovery periods are deliberately longer than the time they really believe it will take the player to be back in action, as it gives them a margin for setbacks, and reduces the concern if a player's recovery it's not exactly on schedule. In addition, it is noted that Los Blancos has a leading medical department, and some of the most physically gifted athletes in the world. It also allows the club to sell their recoveries as small hits for players and medical staff.

Examples given are Jude Bellingham, who returned a week before his month-long diagnosis in September, and Eder Militao, who returned a week after allegedly being injured for two weeks. Similarly with Mbappe, his recovery period was still likely to be closer to 7-10 days than 15-21. It is noted that Dani Ceballos could return from injury in October, although David Alaba will depend on how he responds to training, and Brahim Diaz will not be back before December.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, it certainly takes the pressure off the player, and probably saves Carlo Ancelotti some tough questions. More and more, there is less and less clarity about player injuries in football, and there is no regulatory system, as there is in the NFL in the United States, where teams do punishments for inaccurately reporting the fitness of their players.