As of next week, players will be dispersing to take part in their respective country's upcoming friendlies for the World Cup in Russia. However, with the final few months of the season here and trophies still to play for, Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane is worried international duty could hamper his team's hunt for the Champions League.
It's the age-old debate: club versus country. Who shoud take priority and when? One that becomes increasingly murkier with a World Cup fast-approaching, but still a few months left of the European club season.
With less than 100 days to go until June 14, national-team managers are finalising their squad selections and will use the March friendlies as an important basis for some of these decisions.
However, for clubs like Madrid, they still have silverware for fight for... and arguably the most important in regards to the Champions League.
According to 'AS', Zidane is worried about his players picking up any knocks or injuries, especially since they were handed a tough quarter-final draw: against last year's finalists Juventus, who 'Los Blancos had defeated 4-1.
19 members of his squad will leave for international duty and the one who brings the most concern is Croatian midfielder Luka Modric, who has only recently recovered from a muscle injury and should not be forced into playing so much.
The Frenchman will need all of his players fit though, if they are going to beat a tough Juventus side over two legs. The first of which is away in Turin on April 3... Just one of the reasons Zidane will be keeping his fingers crossed over the next few weeks.