{"id":16116,"date":"2025-11-25T14:32:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T12:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/real-madrids-defensive-woes-increase-for-olympiacos-trip\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:31:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:31:24","slug":"real-madrids-defensive-woes-increase-for-olympiacos-trip","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/real-madrids-defensive-woes-increase-for-olympiacos-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid&#8217;s defensive woes increase for Olympiacos trip"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Real Madrid will face Olympiacos in Wednesday&#8217;s Champions League clash with a paper-thin defence after a new wave of injuries and illness struck on the eve of their crucial trip to Greece.<\/div>\n<div id=\"x_x_ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was ruled out with a stomach virus and the Spanish side will also be without key defenders Eder Militao and Dean Huijsen.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Militao sustained an adductor muscle injury on international duty with Brazil and Huijsen stayed in Madrid as a precaution following a muscle strain suffered during Spain&#8217;s World Cup qualifier against Georgia.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Real were already missing Antonio Ruediger, David Alaba and captain Dani Carvajal due to long-term injuries, leaving coach Xabi Alonso with precious few options at the back.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The timing could not be worse for a team still smarting from a humbling loss at Liverpool in their last Champions League game.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Alonso has faced growing scrutiny as his side failed to win successive LaLiga matches with disappointing draws against lowly Rayo Vallecano and Elche.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Still a point ahead of bitter rivals Barcelona in the domestic league, Real Madrid are seventh in the Champions League group-stage standings with nine points from four games. They trail leaders Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Inter Milan by three points.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16117,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-16116","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was ruled out with a stomach virus.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was ruled out with a stomach virus.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20062,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16116\/revisions\/20062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=16116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}