Missing up to 12 players, Real urgently requests match postponement

Real Madrid intends to file a request with the Spanish Football Federation to delay the Castilla game versus Racing de Ferrol on September 7, due to a critical player shortage in coach Álvaro Arbeloa’s squad.

According to the schedule, Real Madrid Castilla is set to face Racing de Ferrol within the framework of Primera RFEF on September 7. However, the personnel situation forces the team to consider applying for a postponement. In total, 12 Castilla players are unavailable, including 9 called up for national teams and 3 injured.

Out of the 21 players under coach Arbeloa, only 8 outfield players remain eligible to play: David Jimenez, Manu Serrano, Valdepenas, Lamini, Joan Martinez, Cestero, Manuel Angel, and Bruno Iglesias. This number is too low to maintain competitiveness for an official match.

Significant absences include Fran Gonzalez (Spain U21), Diego Aguado and Pol Fortuny (Spain U20), Fortea and Yáñez (Spain U19), Rachad Fettal (Spain U20), Cristian David (Spain U20), and Loren Zúñiga (Equatorial Guinea national team). Meanwhile, Mario Rivas, De Llanos, and César Palacios are sidelined due to injuries.

Although Real Madrid can supplement the squad with young players from their academy, the management believes this situation is different because the number of players called up to national teams is exceptionally high. “We are striving to ensure the team can compete fairly”, a club source confirmed, emphasizing that this is an unprecedented shortage of personnel.

In the past, the RFEF has often rejected postponement requests from B teams or reserve squads, arguing that these teams are designed for training and rotating players. Nevertheless, Real Madrid hopes this special case will be considered due to the obvious impact of the international match schedule.

If the proposal is approved, it will be a rare occasion for a Castilla match to be postponed because of a severe lack of players. This highlights the pressure Arbeloa is facing and raises questions about adjusting the schedule to avoid affecting clubs with many young players frequently called up.

Currently, the final decision rests with the RFEF. Real Madrid believes that given the scale of absences this time, postponing the match is not only reasonable but necessary to ensure fairness in the competition.

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