Real Madrid show support to Dani Carvajal with new contract

Real Madrid have responded to Dani Carvajal suffering a season-ending ACL and LCL injury by handing the veteran full-back a new contract beyond the summer.

Carvajal suffered the serious problem, rupturing two ligaments and a tendon in his right knee, during Madrid’s 2-0 win over La Liga on Saturday.

His existing contract at the Bernabeu had been due to expire at the end of this season. But in a show of support for the defender, who has won six Champions League titles in 11 years as a first-team players, a new deal until the summer of 2026 has been announced.

It will allow Carvajal, due to turn 33 in January, the opportunity to recover and work his way back to fitness in the knowledge that he will still have a job to return to at the end of the process.

Carvajal had showcased just days before the injury how important he still is to Madrid, having been their best player on the pitch for the shock Champions League defeat to Lille.

With the injury happening in stoppage time and Madrid already assured of victory thanks to a two-goal cushion, Carvajal wasn’t replaced on the pitch. But it threatens to give Carlo Ancelotti a headache moving forward, with limited depth in the position.

Former winger Lucas Vazquez is now considered a right-back after going through a positional transition to prolong his use to the club in recent years, although he has only started 28 La Liga games since the start of the 2022/23 campaign.

David Jimenez, who was promoted from Real Madrid C to Castilla during the summer, is also now likely to become a more common feature of matchday squads. The 20-year-old has already been named on the bench for the win over Alaves towards the end of last month.