Real Madrid face Club Brugge in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, and Zinedine Zidane has raised eyebrows with his confirmed squad for the clash.
The pressure is on the Spanish giants to produce a response this week after their heavy defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the opening game of the group stage.
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In turn, Zidane can’t afford to get his team selection wrong, but it seems as though the French tactician doesn’t feel as though he needs either Gareth Bale or James Rodriguez at his disposal to get all three points against the Belgian outfit.
According to Marca, neither have an injury concern, although it could be that Zidane is protecting them and has opted to leave them out to allow them to rest.
That is perhaps a questionable decision if accurate though, as he’ll surely want his best players available in order to ensure that they bounce back in Europe and get back to winning ways to boost their hopes of advancing out of the group.
Nevertheless, there is better news as both Isco and Marcelo return from injury problems to take their place in the squad, as seen in the club’s tweet.
However, as seen in the comments below, many Real Madrid fans were left questioning why neither Bale nor Rodriguez were included, and so it remains to be seen if their concerns are warranted and whether or not Zidane rues the decision to leave them out.
If they were to perhaps be left out against Granada at the weekend too, that could raise more serious question marks over their respective roles in the side moving forward, or an explanation might be offered on possible injury troubles.
? Our 19-man squad for tomorrow's #RMUCL clash against @ClubBrugge! #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/QYrQf5Z0Db
— Real Madrid C.F. ???? (@realmadriden) September 30, 2019
wtf james and bale??
— Stefan (@StefanRM93) September 30, 2019
No bale and james… Idk why
— Z. (@BabaFooka_) September 30, 2019
no bale?
— Hangga Rahmawan (@MHRahmawan) September 30, 2019
Now wtf happened to James n Bale?
— Rushil Joshi (@RushilJoshi7) September 30, 2019
baleeeee???? ffs
— Mario (@BRownSK1N) September 30, 2019
James and Bale??
— LMAO… (@ore922) September 30, 2019
James and Bale??
— LMAO… (@ore922) September 30, 2019
James???
— Tshepo Maletswa (@maletswa_tshepo) September 30, 2019
Bale, brahim, james?
— Ashwin.P (@AshwinP29) September 30, 2019
Bale? James??
— ? (@d215h) September 30, 2019