Real Madrid will again be without the services of Gareth Bale, Dani Ceballos and Federico Valverde for Saturday's La Liga contest with Elche, while Karim Benzema has also been ruled out of the fixture.

Bale will just miss out despite making excellent progress in his recovery from a hamstring problem, with the Wales international potentially in line to feature against Rayo Vallecano on November 6.

Los Blancos were also sweating on the fitness of Isco, who has been struggling with a back problem, and Luka Modric, with the Croatia international missing the goalless draw with Osasuna on Wednesday due to muscular fatigue, but both players have been named in the squad.

Benzema's absence is down to a minor foot problem, so there could be a start at centre-forward for Luka Jovic.

Rodrygo could come in for Marco Asensio on the right, meanwhile, with head coach Carlo Ancelotti expected to freshen his attacking options against Elche.

Eden Hazard is another player pushing to be involved from the start, but Ancelotti recently admitted that the Belgium international has dropped down the pecking order due to his injury problems.

Nacho and Lucas Vazquez are options to come into the back four, meanwhile, but it seems unlikely that there will be any changes to the defensive unit that kept a clean sheet last time out.

Real Madrid possible starting lineup: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Kroos, Casemiro, Modric; Rodrygo, Jovic, Vinicius

Written by
Matt Law