Real Madrid Excludes Lunin from Champions League Opener Squad

Real Madrid will begin their 2026–27 Champions League campaign without Andriy Lunin. The Ukrainian goalkeeper has not been included in José Mourinho’s squad for the group-stage opener against Inter Milan.

Lunin missed the team’s training session the day before the squad announcement and is currently on the club’s injured list. He is suffering from the flu, and there is no clear timeline yet for his return to the team.

Goalkeeper Situation

Mourinho will travel with three goalkeepers. Thibaut Courtois retains his place as the undisputed No. 1, with Spaniards Sergio Mestre and Javi Navarro named as his backups. Neither of Courtois’s deputies has played a single minute this season.

For Lunin, the setback interrupts what was already a fragile situation. Last season he featured in 12 matches for Real Madrid, conceding 21 goals and managing just one clean sheet. Those numbers, combined with Courtois’s status and the club’s depth in goal, had already left his role under scrutiny.

Now illness has taken him out of the picture entirely for the first big European night of the season – and opened the door, at least temporarily, for Mestre and Navarro to stake their claim behind Courtois.