Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 on Sunday, and José Mourinho said after the match that Fede Valverde had "played injured for more than 40 minutes". The win was Madrid’s fifth in a row and left them three points behind Barcelona rather than six or nine.
What Mourinho said about Valverde
Mourinho said Valverde had "played injured for more than 40 minutes". He added: "He got injured, wanted to continue, pushed himself to his limits, and gave everything while he was on the field."
Mourinho did not say what kind of injury Valverde had suffered or at what point in the match it happened. At the time of writing, Real Madrid had not published a medical report on Valverde.
Team selection and the goalkeeping change
Valverde was named in the starting XI alongside Aurélien Tchouaméni, Bernardo Silva and Jude Bellingham. According to the club, Thibaut Courtois dropped out on matchday because of what it called a flu-like illness, Illia Voloshyn was called up as cover, and Andriy Lunin started in goal.
Mourinho said his only message to Lunin before kick-off was simple: "You train to play, not to sit on the bench. Go and play." He also said: "today none of us cried before the match because Thibaut wasn’t playing".
Key moments in the match
According to Real Madrid’s own match report, Lunin made a fine stop from a Gerard Martín header in the 66th minute. Camavinga came on and set up the late winner for Kylian Mbappé.
The run of away games
Mourinho said: "on Sunday we play away; then we play away on Wednesday, and then we have another away match on Saturday". According to the fixture list, those away games are against Racing Santander on 1 November, AEK Athens in the Champions League on 4 November and Valencia on 7 November.
He also said: "I have a rich bench, with players who can be starters".