Confirmed Real Madrid squad vs Unionistas: These fans bemoan absence of bit-part ace

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Real Madrid face Unionistas in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night and Zinedine Zidane has named his 19-man squad for the encounter.

Los Blancos have had a positive January thus far as they’ve secured back-to-back La Liga wins to remain joint-top of the table alongside rivals Barcelona, while they also lifted the Spanish Supercopa.

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In turn, they’ll want to keep that positive run going by advancing to the next round of the Copa del Rey, and they’ll be highly fancied to do so against Unionistas.

That said, with a trip to Real Valladolid on Sunday night, Zidane could be tempted to rotate his squad and give his key players a chance to rest in midweek, and so it remains to be seen what XI he puts out on Wednesday night.

Judging from the squad selected though, as seen in the club’s tweet below, he still has plenty of quality and experience at his disposal to ensure that they avoid being the victims of a famous upset.

Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Casemiro, Isco and Rafael Varane all get the nod in a star-studded group, but judging from the reaction below from some Real Madrid fans, they are not too happy about the absence of Mariano Diaz.

The 26-year-old has been limited to just two appearances so far this season, both of which came in the Spanish Supercopa games earlier this month.

Further, according to AS, he has been linked with an exit this month, and this latest snub perhaps suggests that he doesn’t have a role to play for Real Madrid moving forward.

In contrast, there was a happier response from fans to James Rodriguez’s inclusion, and so it remains to be seen if he gets playing time to prove his worth to the Spanish giants having also struggled to secure a prominent role so far this season.

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