Real Madrid Faces Heavy Absences Ahead of Deportivo Clash
Real Madrid head to Galicia with a squad list that reads more like an injury bulletin than a pre-season statement of intent.
On Tuesday, the club confirmed José Mourinho’s travelling party for Wednesday night’s meeting with Deportivo La Coruña, and the omissions are impossible to ignore. Eleven first‑team players, many of them automatic starters, will not make the trip.
Heavyweight absences for Mourinho
This is no minor trimming of the group. Real Madrid will be without Marc Cucurella, Jude Bellingham, Thibaut Courtois, Rodrygo, Kylian Mbappé, Yan Diomandé, Ferland Mendy, Raúl Asencio, Ibrahima Konaté, Thiago Pitarch and Éder Militão, ruled out through a mix of injury issues and insufficient match fitness.
Strip those names out of any squad and it looks lighter. Strip them out of a Real Madrid side gearing up for a title push, and it becomes a genuine test of depth and structure.
Mourinho, deep into preparations for the 2026/27 campaign, now has less than two weeks to mould a side ready to chase down Barcelona in La Liga. These friendlies are his laboratory. The margin for wasted minutes is shrinking.
Pre-season plans under strain
Real have already put work in against Fiorentina and Ferencváros, using those games to sharpen patterns and integrate new ideas. Deportivo, freshly returned to La Liga, present a different kind of examination: a proud club back among the elite, eager to measure themselves against the most demanding standard in Spain.
Instead of a near full-strength rehearsal, Mourinho is forced into improvisation. No Courtois at the back, no Bellingham between the lines, no Mbappé or Rodrygo to tilt the pitch in the final third. Militão and Konaté missing removes power and presence from the heart of defence. On the left, Cucurella and Mendy both out strips away natural balance.
It leaves opportunities. It also removes excuses.
A different kind of test
For Mourinho, this trip is less about the result and more about who can step into the gaps and stay there when the real thing begins. Players on the fringes suddenly find themselves in the spotlight, with a coach renowned for rewarding reliability and ruthlessness.
Deportivo’s return to the top flight gives the fixture an edge that goes beyond the usual pre-season rhythm. The atmosphere will feel closer to a league match than a training exercise. Real Madrid, short of stars but not of expectation, walk into that environment needing answers.
The absentees dominate the team sheet. The story of Real’s season will depend on how quickly they stop dominating the conversation.
