The viral condition causing the pericarditis that 25-year-old Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal has been suffering from has already disappeared, according to sources close to the player.

The treatment he has undergone, consisting of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and aspirin has proved successful. However, despite seeing the viral illness subsiding it has not resulted in Carvajal being discharged. Madrid’s club doctors want to err on the side of caution and have not yet specified a potential return date for the defender.

Carvajal has not trained since 30 September, when the club officially announced that he was going to be sidelined for an indefinite period of time due to a pericardium infection. Pericarditis is an inflammation of the membrane lining of the heart, a condition that is more often seen in young people, and which originates from a viral infection.