Bale and Cristiano to miss Espanyol game

Espanyol vs Real Madrid live English

No Cristiano or Bale against Espanyol

Zinedine Zidane confirmed in Saturday's pre-match press conference that Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have been left out of his squad for tomorrow's Week 4 meeting with Espanyol. Bale took a knock to his hip in the mid-week Champions League win over Sporting Clube while Cristiano has been dropped at the last minute after picking up a flu bug. Both players were unable to train with the group on Friday.

James, Asensio and Lucas Vázquez

"We're not going to take any unnecessary risks; we have a big squad and we have over 60 games to play in a season and I want to ensure that every member of the squad gets a chance with the team", Zidane told reporters this afternoon. The coach was already contemplating rotating his team for this weekend's match. Lucas Vázquez and Marco Asensio will occupy the vacancies left by Bale and Cristiano with Benzema or Morata playing in the centre-forward's role. Zidane also confirmed that James would feature - probably at the expense of Modric.

In defence, Danilo and Pepe, who were absent for the Sporting match, make their return.