Ronaldo, Bale ruled out of Espanyol clash

The duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale will miss the Los Blancos clash with Espanyol in Catalonia on Sunday, coach Zinedine Zidane has confirmed. While Ronaldo has a sore throat, Bale is suffering from a hip problem.

"Cristiano will not travel with us, he has a sore throat, and he will stay at home. He is not ready.He took a big blow to his hip the other day. With so many games to play, we cannot take risks.

"I want to have Gareth at 100 per cent for a very difficult game on Wednesday. He might have got a bang in the same spot and be out for 10 days, or more."

The frenchman continued, "If Cristiano, Gareth and Karim are at 100 per cent, then they play. But that does not mean they must always play. We have many games.

"My idea is to always rotate, so that players think at any moment they will be called to play. They all need to play, that's my idea."