Zidane rings changes to end bad week for Real Madrid

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane will make changes to his starting 11 as he looks to end a dreadful week of football on a high note ahead of the forthcoming international break.

Real Madrid entertain struggling Las Palmas after seven disastrous days in which they lost 1-2 to newly promoted Girona and were then defeated 1-3 by Tottenham Hotspurs in the Champions League following a performance in which several of the players looked tired, reported Xinhua.

Zidane will combat that fatigue by bringing youngsters Marco Asensio, Marcos Llorente, Dani Ceballos and Theo Hernandez into the side against Las Palmas with Marcelo, Casemiro, Tony Kroos and Luka Modric making way.

As well as giving a rest to key players, Zidane's changes will help protect Casemiro, who would miss the Madrid derby on November 18 if he sees a yellow card at the weekend.

Gareth Bale is also likely to be on the bench after missing over a month with a calf injury which has never been clearly explained by the club. Bale can expect some minutes at the end of the match after returning to full training during the week.

If Madrid are in a delicate situation (and they could find themselves 11 points behind FC Barcelona by kick off on Sunday), then Las Palmas' is far worse.

The side from the Canary Islands have lost their last five games in the Liga Santander and all four since Pako Ayestaran was named as first team coach.

Although club president, Miguel Angel Ramirez gave Ayestaran a vote of confidence during the week saying it was "not serious" to give the coach so little time, the Spanish press are speculating that a heavy defeat in the Bernabeu could see Las Palmas looking for their third coach of the campaign after just 11 games of the season.

The atmosphere at the club has not been helped by stories of players staying out later than allowed on the night of October 31 and of a fight between Loric Remy and Tannane during Thursday's training session.

All this points to Las Palmas being the perfect rival for Real Madrid to put a bad week behind them on Sunday night.

--IANS

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