Courtois Ruled Out of El Clasico With Flu as Lunin Steps In for Real Madrid

Real Madrid will face Barcelona in Sunday night's El Clasico without Thibaut Courtois after the club took the goalkeeper out of the matchday squad hours before kickoff because of flu. The match is the tenth round of La Liga. It kicks off at 21:00 local time at the Spotify Camp Nou, and Madrid now have to play it with their second choice goalkeeper.

"Courtois is a last-minute withdrawal from tonight's LaLiga matchday 10 game between Real Madrid and Barcelona due to a bout of the flu," the club said in a short statement on Sunday. "Illia Voloshyn has been called up to the squad in his place." Voloshyn is a goalkeeper from Real Madrid C. The club gave no timetable for Courtois to return, and EFE reported that the Belgian would not travel to Barcelona with the rest of the squad.

A late change in goal

Andriy Lunin will take Courtois's place in goal. The 27-year-old Ukrainian is expected to make his first appearance of the season in the biggest match of it. He last played on May 3, in a 2-0 win over Espanyol, and he was Courtois's deputy during the club's run to the 2024 Champions League final. Before the announcement, Madrid coach Jose Mourinho had named Lunin among the players he said deserved more minutes, according to La Razon.

Courtois had started every match for Madrid this season. The 34-year-old Belgian played all 12 games in La Liga and the Champions League, 1,080 minutes in total, and kept clean sheets against Malaga and Villarreal. His last match was the 4-1 Champions League win over RB Leipzig in midweek, when he had a strong game in goal.

A long absence list

Courtois is not Madrid's only missing player. Vinicius Junior is suspended and serves the second game of a four-match league ban after his red card against Villarreal. Raul Asencio, Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo are out with long-term injuries. That leaves Mourinho to reshape both ends of his team for the biggest league match of the season so far.

What rides on the match

Barcelona, coached by Hansi Flick, have won all nine of their league matches and lead La Liga with 27 points. Atletico Madrid are second on 25 points after a 1-0 win at Deportivo on Saturday. Madrid are third on 21 points, six behind Barcelona, and a third league defeat of the season would leave them nine points behind their hosts.

Lunin has faced Barcelona four times for Madrid. He won three of those matches and lost one, conceding eight goals, according to figures from Transfermarkt cited in reports before the match. His league meetings include a 3-1 win in October 2022 and a 3-2 win in April 2024, both at home. This time he plays at Camp Nou, against a Barcelona side that has not dropped a point in the league.