Famed football medical expert Dr Pedro Luis Ripoll says Real Madrid's players are being pushed beyond their physical limits.

Ripoll says there shouldn't be any surprise over the injuries that Real's squad have suffered this season.

He told Marca: "The evidence is in the number of injuries Madrid have had, which have affected their defensive line in particular. It shows that this number of games is incompatible with protecting the health of the athlete.

"The players have lost the protection provided by rest and structured training. They can neither rest well nor train well. And this is very important. You need both things to plan the season and neither of those things can be done with such a number of games. They are being pushed to the limit and the effort is titanic to face all the commitments.

"There is not a single Real Madrid player who is competing at 100%, it is impossible because they are overworked. Knocks, discomfort, fatigue... There is no margin for them to fully recover. In addition, they play at the limit of injury due to fatigue. Fatigue is dangerous because when it appears you lose the automatisms of the muscles. The muscles of the legs protect the joints, and when they are fatigued this protection is greatly diminished.

"What the Madrid medical services, the recovery teams, physiotherapists and those responsible for preparation are doing is a work of medical and physical engineering. Their work is unbeatable and their strategy of stopping players at the very beginning of the symptoms of muscle injuries is very intelligent. They quickly stop the player and subject him to a recovery process.

"They are not miracles, it is a good work strategy."