Real Madrid right-back Dani Carvajal looks almost certain to miss World Cup 2018 after limping off in the Champions League final with a suspected hamstring injury.
A few minutes after Mohamed Salah's forced substitution with a shoulder injury, a distraught Carvajal was in tears on the pitch in Kiev as he realised his own Russia dreams with Spain were over.
An attempted back heel had a disastrous side effect and after a couple of minutes in tears he was helped off the pitch around 10 minutes before half-time.
Nacho, a fellow Spaniard, replaced the Blancos full-back with 37 minutes on the clock. Carvajal struggled to be consoled as he joined the likes of Laurent Koscielny, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Dimitri Payet on the list of high-profile absentees from the upcoming World Cup.
The 26-year-old is a player who's often struggled with muscular injuries; he was also injured in the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid in 2016. Carvajal was forced to sit out Euro 2016 in the aftermath of that injury too.
He'd experienced two spells out in 2017-18 already with chest pains diagnosed as pericarditis last October and, more recently, a hamstring injury that sidelined him for a month.
The first half between Real Madrid and Liverpool finished all square at 0-0 after both sides struggled to fashion clear-cut chances in Kiev.
Jurgen Klopp's side were aiming to win the Champions League for the first time since 2005, but Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid secured on a third successive title and a 13th in their illustrious history.
Karim Benzema's goal from a Loris Karius blunder was quickly nullified by Sadio Mane's close-range strike, but two stunning goals from substitute Gareth Bale settled the tie in the Blancos' favour.
