Raphael Varane Illness: Updates on Real Madrid Star's Status and Return

Updates from Tuesday, Oct. 21

Raphael Varane has travelled with the Real Madrid squad for their Champions League trip to Liverpool.

Nicholas Rigg of AS reports:

Updates from Monday, Oct. 20

Carlo Ancelotti has revealed Raphael Varane's fitness will need to be assessed ahead of Real Madrid's Champions League clash with Liverpool.

Ancelotti said, per Madrid's official website:

"

We have a few days to evaluate the situation of Bale, Benzema, Varane, Ramos and all the players who had fitness issues in this game.

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Original Text

Real Madrid star Raphael Varane returned from international duty with a fever, ruling the young centre-back out for Saturday's La Liga contest against Levante.

As reported by AS' Alvaro De La Rosa, coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed the France international won't play, and neither will team-mate Karim Benzema, saying: "Everyone was fine when they got back, but this morning Varane and Benzema have a fever and aren’t available. The rest are all great and we can continue our good run."

The 21-year-old was excellent during France's two friendly matches in the international break, building on a phenomenal start to the 2014-15 season. One of the world's biggest defensive talents, he even captained the France squad against Armenia, becoming one of the youngest ever international captains, via 101 Great Goals' Ben Green.

According to AS English's Nicholas Rigg, Nacho will likely replace the youngster on Saturday:

Levante have struggled for much of the 2014-15 campaign and have only scored a league-worst four goals so far, per WhoScored. Los Blancos shouldn't run into too much trouble on Saturday, and some more playing time can only benefit the talented but inexperienced Nacho.