Zinedine Zidane had both good and bad news for the media with regard to his personnel, as Real Madrid prepare to face Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames on Saturday.
The reigning champions are currently placed fourth in La Liga, a good 8 points behind table toppers Barcelona. Jose Angel Ziganda’s men, however, are fighting to stay above the relegation zone, and they are placed 16th on the table.
Zinedine Zidane confirmed in his pre-match press conference that captain Sergio Ramos has returned to training with the first team and is fit and available to play tonight. The Spaniard had not played a game since picking up an injury against Atletico Madrid a few weeks ago.
However, he didn’t have good news about Gareth Bale. The Welshman played his first game since returning from injury against Fuenlabrada in the midweek Copa Del Rey tie and put in a match winning performance, setting up both of Borja Mayoral’s goal to help Real qualify with a 4-2 aggregate scoreline. He has since picked up a calf injury and is set to miss Saturday’s trip to San Mames.
“Bale hasn’t got anything serious,” Zidane said. “It’s just a bit of discomfort and we don’t want to risk it. I couldn’t tell you when he started to feel pain. He was feeling it in his calf, it’s the way it is.”
When asked about when he could make a return, the Frenchman said, “That depends on him. I hope it’ll be next week. It’s a difficult situation and because he’s an athlete and a particular type of player, he has to be 100% to play. There have been some games when he’s not been right physically and we don’t want to take the risk and have him out even longer.”
As for Athletic Bilbao, they released the full squad for this tie on their official site and Aymeric Laporte will be unavailable through suspension, while Iker Muniain and Benat Etxebarria are all set to miss out through injury. However, Kepa Arrizabalaga has been recalled to the squad after being left out for their Copa Del Rey loss to Formentera on Wednesday.
