Real Madrid will head into its weekend games without three major players thanks to the recent international break.

James Rodriguez is still out, but two other starters are now joining him on the injury list. The first is Karim Benzema who led the team in La Liga goals to this point with six. The Frenchman has been at his goalscoring best this season, scoring three game winners for Los Blancos across all competitions. His consistency has made a major weapon for the team and losing him will create some big issues.

It will put even more pressure on the inconsistent Cristiano Ronaldo to score goals. However, the most problematic situation is that Los Blancos currently lack a back up center forward. In fact, Jese Rodriguez, a natural winger, is likely to get a shot at that spot in the upcoming games. That experiment could be a colossal flop as Jese lacks the vision of Benzema or the hold up play in front of the box.

However, Benzema is not as big a loss as that of Luka Modric. The Croatian was lost on international duty for his nation and is undeniably the most important player in Madrid’s midfield. Just go back to last season and pinpoint the very moment when the team imploded after a strong start – Modric’s injury that kept him out for months.

Without him, the team’s midfield play is patchy at best. As a maestro Modric is adept at stitching play between the defense and the forwards, and his wide-ranging arsenal of passes is crucial to unlocking stingy defenders.

He is second on the team in passes completed and second in long balls per game. He leads all players in through balls and leads the midfield and forwards in tackles per game and interceptions per game; in fact he ranks higher than some of the team’s defensemen in both categories, emphasizing just how crucial he is to the club’s success.

Without Modric, the team will face a rather tough task. Isco is already deputizing for James Rodriguez and now Mateo Kovacic will be called upon to carry a lot of the creative load. The Croatian has shown an ability to lead the team in crucial moments, but he has never had to do it knowing that he is the last resort.

Rafa Benitez could use Casemiro as a deeper-lying option and then push Toni Kroos further forward where the German can play more of a creative role.