Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos has suffered a hamstring injury, the club has confirmed, as the team prepares for a critical run of games in multiple competitions.
Sources have told ESPN that Ceballos will miss up to two months.
Ceballos limped off late on in Madrid's 1-0 Copa del Rey semifinal first-leg win at Real Sociedad on Wednesday, after a collision with forward Takefusa Kubo.
After the player underwent tests, Madrid confirmed on Thursday that Ceballos had suffered "an injury in the semimembranosus muscle" in his left leg.
Ceballos has been a regular starter in recent weeks and is now unavailable to coach Carlo Ancelotti as the club enters a key phase of the season.
Title-chasing Madrid travel to Real Betis, Ceballos' former club, in LaLiga on Saturday before hosting Atlético Madrid in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg at the Bernabéu.
They then play Rayo Vallecano in LaLiga, followed by the second leg against Atlético, before league games with Villarreal and Leganés, and then their Copa semifinal second leg.
"I'm very sad to not be able to help my team in this very important part of the season," Ceballos posted on social media. "And very sad for having to stop in what I felt was my best moment.
"But football is like that, it is not always easy, and even less fair. So I have to face it with strength, with the desire to fight and with the certainty that I will come back even stronger. This is not over. I've come out of worse times... See you soon, sooner than you think."
Ceballos has made 15 appearances for Madrid in LaLiga this season, 10 of them starts, as well as playing eight times in the Champions League, starting both legs of their knockout phase playoff with Manchester City.
