Real Madrid have left Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and Lucas Vazquez out of their squad for Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League clash away to Turkish side Galatasaray.
It is a match manager Zinedine Zidane has since described as a “must-win game”.
None of them — Modric, Bale and Vazquez — played in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Real Mallorca, Real Madrid’s first La Liga loss of the season.
Modric and Bale both picked up knocks on international duty while Vazquez has been out since the start of the month.
Toni Kroos, Eden Hazard and Dani Carvajal, all of whom also missed the Real Mallorca defeat, return to the squad.
Kroos has been carrying an injury while Hazard missed the Real Mallorca trip because of the birth of his fourth child, and Carvajal was rested.
Real Madrid have managed only one point from their first two Group A games in this season’s UEFA Champions League.
“We know what we’re playing for,” Zidane said of Tuesday’s trip. “We need to play to win because there’s no other option there. We need to focus on winning on Tuesday”
