The Portuguese central defender has been working his way back from an injury to a muscle in his right thigh, which he picked up during the 'Clásico' on 22nd March. Though he subsequently went away on international duty, he could only train with his compatriots for one day and, having been ruled out for Portugal's fixtures, was cleared to return to Madrid early to continue his recovery.
Raphaël Varane and Sergio Ramos are likely to start against Eibar, but Carlo Ancelotti is considering giving Pepe a run-out so that he can blow off the cobwebs ahead of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Atlético de Madrid. This suggests that the former Porto stalwart will be preferred to the young Frenchman when push comes to shove, despite Varane having capitalised on both of his fellow centre-backs' fitness problems to make a personal-record number of appearances this season.
Ancelotti has stressed Pepe's importance on numerous occasions and has in fact asked the Real Madrid hierarchy to renew the veteran's contract, which runs until 2016, for another year or two.
