Zinedine Zidane has left Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema out of Real Madrid’s matchday squad to face Sporting Gijon this weekend, despite already being without Gareth Bale.
Los Blancos were dealt a blow with the news that Bale is to sit out the visit to El Molinon on Saturday afternoon due to the recurrence of an ankle injury that kept him on the sidelines for four months earlier this season.
Leading marksman Ronaldo and fellow forward Benzema will also miss out, as Zidane looks ahead to next week’s Champions League quarter-final second leg with Bayern Munich and the potentially huge El Clasico showdown with Barcelona five days later.
Elsewhere, Keylor Navas has also been rested to give Kiko Casilla a likely ninth league start of the season.
Madrid extended their lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga to three points last weekend, with a game in hand still left to play.
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