Real Madrid have left Cristiano Ronaldo out of the squad to face Las Palmas on Saturday ahead of the Champions League next week.
Ronaldo, Marcelo and Toni Kroos were all left out out of the travelling party for this weekend’s La Liga game, the club confirmed on Friday evening.
Real Madrid will travel to Juventus on Tuesday for the Champions League quarterfinal first leg, and Zinedine Zidane made the decision to rest some of his top players, though earlier in the day he had insisted he was not looking past relegation-threatened Las Palmas.
? This is our 19-man squad for tomorrow’s LaLiga match against @UDLP_english!#RMMovistar | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/d4xoqHMmZw
— Real Madrid C.F.???? (@realmadriden) March 30, 2018
“Whoever travels tomorrow will be well,” Zidane said at his news conference. “We are not thinking of Tuesday’s game. We have a complicated game tomorrow. In order to prepare for Tuesday’s game, we have to do a good job tomorrow. There are no small teams in La Liga and we must be ready.”
Real trail La Liga leaders Barcelona by 15 points and have a 13-point advantage ahead of fifth-placed Villarreal in their fight to qualify for next year’s Champions League.
Zidane confirmed captain Sergio Ramos would not feature against after picking up an injury with Spain on Tuesday, but that Gareth Bale will be ready to play.
Ronaldo, who played 68 minutes in Portugal’s 3-0 defeat to Netherlands on Monday, has scored nine of Madrid’s last 13 goals. He is the second leading scorer in La Liga with 22 goals — three fewer than Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
Kroos played 90 minutes in both of Germany’s friendlies against Spain and Brazil, while Marcelo also played every minute in two games for Brazil over the international break.
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