Zinedine Zidane has chosen to exclude Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo from the traveling squad as he takes his Real Madrid side to face CD Leganes.
Real Madrid face the possibility of losing the top spot to Barcelona, albeit with a game in hand, if they fail to beat Leganes on Wednesday. Barcelona would have already played their game earlier, which could put added pressure on Los Blancos to get a result against the relegation candidates.
However, they will have to do it without Raphael Varane, who is sidelined with an injury. Zidane, though, gave a positive update in the pre-match conference, saying that the scans showed that Varane’s injury was not as serious as touted. But, it remains to be seen as to how many matches the Frenchman will miss due to the latest setback.
“The scan tell us that it’s not much, that’s the important thing. It’s not an injury like the last one or the one he had before that. It’s not much, but I can’t say how long he’ll be out. It’s around where he has the scar.”
Nacho had started the weekend fixture as a left-back and could be in contention for another start, albeit, in the middle alongside Sergio Ramos, with Marcelo set to be reinstated into the starting lineup by the manager. Elsewhere, Danilo could also lose his place to Dani Carvajal, who is the more preferred choice among the two.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have been rested from tonight’s Real Madrid squad—time for Plan B ?? pic.twitter.com/RTV3c6OkXj
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) April 5, 2017
Carvajal and Ronaldo both are on four yellow cards, which begged the question as to whether they will be chosen for the game. Zidane, however, was coy on the topic, stating that one has to wait till the matchday to see who makes the squad.
“I’ll not say whether or not they’ll be in the squad. We’re on top of it and we hope that both stay on four yellow cards until the end of the season. It’s the challenge we’ve got. You’ll see tomorrow who’s in the squad. The good news is we’re all ready, apart from Varane.”
The Matchday squad update, though, has confirmed Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kroos and Gareth Bale’s absence from the squad while Dani Carvajal has been named in the 19-man squad Zidane has decided to take to Estadio Municipal de Butarque.
It is an interesting decision by the manager and only time will tell whether the bold move backfires or the fringe players step up to the plate to cover for the dynamic duo.