Update: Real Madrid lose defender for UCL Final

Raphael Varane

Raphaël Varane will miss the UEFA Champions League final after Real Madrid released a medical report on Sunday. This comes as a big blow, as Zinedine Zidane had all his men available for the big clash.

According to AS, the defender’s estimated recovery time will be three weeks, so being fully ready for next Saturday is out of the question.

While this is an unfortunate event, the Frenchman had been relegated by Pepe in the past few months. This will force Nacho Fernández to be the third center back when they meet Atlético Madrid.

At 33 years old, this may just be Pepe’s last chance at a big final. His form in the last sprint of the season has been very good, so Zidane losing Varane isn’t completely negative.

This injury has one big curiosity that is sort of strange to examine. Pepe had to miss the Lisbon final in 2014 after a last-minute problem and Raphaël stepped in and did a good job.

Fast forward two years and now the young center back will miss the Milan final and the veteran will get to make up for that.