Thibaut Courtois addresses injury concerns ahead of Arsenal Champions League clash

Thibaut Courtois has given Real Madrid fans assurances over his fitness going into this week's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Arsenal.

Courtois has missed three of Madrid's last four La Liga games – against Rayo Vallecano, Leganes and Valencia due to minor injury issues that he has confirmed are not behind him.

Andriy Lunin deputised in two of those, as he did for much of last season, with home-grown stopper Fran Gonzalez handed a first-team debut in the latter game against Valencia.

"I'm fine, I had a small problem, it was a day-to-day thing, but I've been training for several sessions," Courtois explained. "I've had two [injuries]: the first a knock and the second for coming back too quickly. I'm fully recovered. I'm fit. It wasn't a big problem.

"I've been on the pitch [in training] for the last few days," the Belgian added.

Ferland Mendy and Dani Ceballos are ruled out of the game through injury, with Aurelien Tchouameni serving a European suspension to sit this one out.

David Alaba has been tipped to play at left-back, the position in which he originally made his name, with Antonio Rudiger and Raul Asencio paired in the middle.

Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe are all fit and available, but will be hoping for a better outing than against Valencia, when total dominance and xG of 3.47 produced only one goal, and was ultimately responsible for falling to a 2-1 defeat.

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