Just six games stand between Real Madrid's current squad and the club's record unbeaten streak, but those fixtures could hardly be tougher. The 1988/89 side, affectionately known as the Quinta del Buitre, strung together 34 games before tasting defeat whereas Zinedine Zidane's charges sit on 28 games during the international break. When play resumes on November 19, Los Blancos travel the short distance to face Atletico Madrid, the scene of the Frenchman's only LaLiga defeat since his employment in the Real hotseat. His only other loss came away to Wolfsburg in the Champions League quarter-final first leg, some seven months ago now, picking up two major titles in his 28 outings since that match in Germany.
To complete the historic run, Madrid must then survive clashes with Sporting CP and Sporting Gijon before a formality return match with Cultural Leonesa and a Clasico derby away to Barcelona. If still unbeaten after that, two home games with Borussia Dortmund and Deportivo La Coruna will see them match and surpass Leo Beenhakker's famous team and claim the club's all-time unbeaten run record.Fifteen players have all left to take part in various international fixtures around the world, although four have remained behind: Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema, Pepe and Casemiro. Each injury is at a different stage and only one of the players, Ramos, has trained on the pitch so far.
Therefore, it will be difficult for all four to turn things around in the 11 days until the fixture at the Estadio Vicente Calderon. At the other end of the spectrum from the captain is Casemiro who is still three weeks away from full fitness, although he is using any means necessary to shorten that time frame. In the cases of Pepe and Benzema, both men are suffering from muscle injuries and their return dates depend primarily on the players' own feelings of readiness. Nothing is being left to chance at Valdebebas, in any case, with intense physiotherapy sessions being combined with individual recovery plans.The club's medical staff have set the quartet the tentative November 19 return date and in what will be the league leaders' first serious test of the campaign, there is hope that some of them will be fit and available as Real look to extend their uneaten run to 28 games in all competitions.
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