England manager Thomas Tuchel has sparked concern at Real Madrid by ruling Jude Bellingham out of the upcoming match against Japan due to his physical condition.
Bellingham had only recently returned to action for Real Madrid about two weeks ago after being sidelined for over a month with an injury. Tuchel included him in the squad for the international break this March for the matches against Uruguay and Japan.
The England star did not feature in the Three Lions’ match against Uruguay a few days ago, remaining on the bench in the 1-1 draw at Wembley Stadium.
In the pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday’s game against Japan, Tuchel announced that Bellingham would not play against the Samurai Blue and would return to Madrid to avoid any risk of aggravating his injury.
Tuchel explained, “We won’t risk Jude because he’s just returned from a muscle injury, and you never know what might happen.”
Real Madrid will need to subject Bellingham to further tests to ensure his fitness. It seems illogical that Tuchel included him in the squad and didn’t give him a single minute of playing time if he wasn’t injured.
Real Madrid officials hope the 23-year-old will be fit for Saturday’s La Liga match against Mallorca, or at the very least, recover from any injury before the highly anticipated Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich.
