Sneijder, Pepe and Torres add to Madrid woes

Real Madrid CF coach Bernd Schuster endured more miserable news today when it was confirmed that Netherlands midfielder Wesley Sneijder and defenders Pepe and Miguel Torres all face spells on the sidelines after suffering injuries in Saturday's 3-1 defeat by Getafe CF.

Injured trio
The 24-year-old Sneijder pulled up clutching his right thigh in the 16th minute of the weekend loss, which led to the champions dropping a place to fourth in the Liga, and will need ten days to recover from what has turned out to be a hamstring strain. Torres, 22, was forced off with a thigh problem and the Spanish Under-21 international is out for three weeks while Portuguese defender Pepe, who completed the Getafe game, suffered a muscle strain and faces a similar absence though could be missing for a month.

Regulars missing
Madrid are at home to the team directly below them, Sevilla, on Sunday before completing their UEFA Champions League Group H campaign against Zenit at the Santiago Bernabéu three days later. Schuster will be without seven other first-team regulars for those games, including Ruud van Nistelrooy and Fabio Cannavaro, although Madrid's place in the draw for first knockout round on Friday 19 December is already assured.