Report: Carvajal given green light to attempt return from heart condition

Dani Carvajal has been given clearance to return to training and could return in time for Real Madrid's upcoming derby tilt with Atletico Madrid on Nov. 18, having been sidelined with a heart condition since the end of September.

Dr. Cesar Quesada from the FIFA Ripoll Excellence Clinic and De Prado Sport Clinic said Carvajal must still take things slowly in the coming days, explaining, as quoted by Marca: "His training should be very little by little, in a very progressive way.

"The average athlete is four to six weeks off, but if there is a relapse rate, I imagine that they will have extended the window of his return to have more guarantees that everything is perfect.

"Some alterations in the electrocardiogram of the elite athlete can persist, even when the disease is over, so only the experience of the cardiologist and the successive complementary tests requested from the athlete can allow us to discharge him completely for strenuous physical activity.

"High performance levels are a gigantic stress and it's true that they are used to it, but after several weeks doing nothing the normal thing is that it costs you at the beginning."

Dr. Quesada added that Carvajal's heart condition - called pericarditis - has a "relatively high relapse rate, between 15 and 20 percent" and, as such, the 25-year-old Spain international will continue being monitored for the time being.

But, once discharged, Dr. Quesada offered that Carvajal "won't require further follow-up."