Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric have been left out of the Real Madrid squad for Sunday’s La Liga clash at Malaga as Zinedine Zidane’s side look to move back up to third in the table.
Wales international Bale started in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to Juventus in the Champions League quarterfinal second leg, but substituted at half-time by Zinedine Zidane.
Bale’s fall down the pecking order has led to local media speculation that Real Madrid are looking to offload him back to the Premier League this summer, despite a contract running up to 2022.
📝 Here’s our 19-man squad for the trip to face @MalagaCF_en! #RMMovistar pic.twitter.com/bLRfAMr2qw
— Real Madrid C.F.🇺🇸🇬🇧 (@realmadriden) April 15, 2018
However, Bale’s agent Jonathan Barnett dismissed the transfer rumours.
“Gareth is a Real Madrid player and loves Real Madrid and Real Madrid love Gareth,” he told ESPN FC on Tuesday.
“All this talk about leaving is written by reporters who have no idea what is going on and who need to write something and don’t care if it is true or not.”
Ronaldo has been rested for three of Madrid’s last four away trips and will again sit out the game at La Rosaleda, where he scored as his Madrid clinched the La Liga title on the final day last year.
Modric appeared to pick up the problem in the first half against Juventus but played on until he was replaced by Mateo Kovacic with a quarter-hour remaining.
Madrid, who have only been beaten once in the last two decades at Malaga, are fourth in the table but have almost certainly secured qualification for next year’s Champions League given fifth-place Real Betis are 15 points behind with just seven games remaining.
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