Real Madrid will be without big money signing Eden Hazard for their crunch clash against Manchester City, according to the club’s official website.
The former Chelsea man suffered an ankle fracture in his side’s weekend defeat to Levante and is ruled out for the next few months.
The Belgian winger has endured a stop-start first season in Madrid with just one goal in 15 appearances across all competitions.
Marca reported that the only other player unavailable due to injury for Zidane is Marco Asensio, who is on the recovery trail after an ACL injury.
Rodrygo, Nacho Fernandez, James Rodriguez, Brahim Diaz and Mariano Diaz have all been left out by the Frenchman from his 19 man squad for City’s visit to Santiago Bernabeu.
REAL MADRID SQUAD:
Goalkeepers: Courtois, Areola and Altube.
Defenders: Carvajal, Militão, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo and Mendy.
Midfielders: Kroos, Modric, Casemiro, Valverde and Isco.
Forwards: Benzema, Bale, Lucas Vázquez, Jović and Vinicius Jr.
Madrid fell two points behind Barcelona in the La Liga title race due to Saturday’s loss and will be hoping to bounce back strongly against City.
Zidane is likely to include Ferland Mendy back into the starting eleven after he sat out at the weekend to avoid the risk of a yellow card, which would have seen him suspended for the coming Clasico.
The two sides last met in the 2015/16 Champions League semi-finals when Madrid knocked out the English club 1-0 on aggregate.
City have an added motivation to go all the way in the Champions League with the impending ban for the next two seasons.
Zidane has never lost a knockout tie in this tournament but claimed that his side will have to be at their very best to qualify for further rounds.
“We know we’re up against a very good side, they’ve shown it time and again and they’ll come here to play football,” the Real coach said.
“We’ll have to put on a good display, that’s what it’s all about.
“We’ll give it everything, but with the focus on what we’re doing well, not thinking about having had poorly over the last couple of games. We’re playing well and we have to put in a good performance tomorrow”.
