Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois ruled out for El Clásico against Barcelona

Real Madrid will be missing one of their most important players for Sunday’s El Clásico against Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu as goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has been ruled out due to a back injury.

Courtois picked up the injury in international duty with Belgium and was hoping to be ready to take on Barça, but the recovery has been a lot slower than expected and the goalkeeper has not made it back in time for Sunday’s massive top of the table clash.

Another Madrid player ruled out for this one is midfielder Dani Ceballos thanks to a hamstring issue. Barça will be missing Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Memphis Depay and Héctor Bellerín, but Jules Kounde is expected to return from a four-week absence due to a hamstring injury and be available to start on Sunday.