Thibaut Courtois will take on his former side Chelsea tonight as the Blues play Real Madrid in the first-leg of their Champions League semi-final.
The Belgian goalkeeper will then return to Stamford Bridge next week, the ground he called home for four years before moving to Spain.
Courtois won two league titles, an FA Cup and a League Cup during his time in west London, but his exit was anything but clean.
The now 28-year-old was keen to return to Madrid, the home of his two children, in 2018.
Chelsea had just appointed Maurizio Sarri as Antonio Conte's successor, but the Italian was without his first choice goalkeeper as pre-season begun.
Courtois refused to report to their Cobham training ground for two days straight as he held out for a move to Los Blancos, reported the Guardian.
His absence was unauthorised as he entered the final 12 months of his deal in west London.
Madrid bid £35m for the goalkeeper and his agent, Christophe Henrotay, went public as he challenged Chelsea to grant his client's exit request.
“I have been reading everywhere that Chelsea are saying it is up to Thibaut,” Henrotay told the Sun.
“But he has made it clear to the club the best option for him is to move to Madrid.
"For him this is a big decision because he wants to be near his family, and there is an offer in place for Chelsea to accept.”
Courtois' agent went on to say that the goalkeeper's desire to move was purely for family reasons once he had secured a switch to the Bernabeu.
"There has been a misunderstanding that he wanted to get a move for the wrong reasons, but he was pushing to go out of Chelsea because of his child," Henrotay told BBC's Sportsweek.
"If the family were in London it would have been totally different. He would have stayed, there is no reason to leave a club like Chelsea, he could have won trophies."
Courtois' decision to miss training was not his first rodeo however having employed similar tactics to secure a move to Chelsea in 2011.
Then at Genk he refused to turn up before a pre-season friendly against Lyon.
Since the Belgian's exit Chelsea have spent just shy of £100m on goalkeepers.
