With Gareth Bale sidelined due to a calf injury, Zidane has also opted to rest Karim Benzema with Madrid facing two tough tests in the coming week.
Real Madrid's confidence is sky-high after their convincing win at Bayern Munich in the Champions League, and they can build on that momentum by taking another step towards the Spanish title when they visit relegation-fighting Sporting Gijon tomorrow. "We can't do anything, we must wait", Zidane said about Bale's injury. He has had problems in that calf area before so that's why we are understandably anxious. He won't be with us and we will see what happens for next Tuesday. For sure he has something, a bit of a bruise in his calf. "Of course I am anxious as I don't like to have players injured, even more towards the end of the season". We are not going to risk him.
Sporting have won just one of their last 15 meetings with Madrid in all competitions, but badly need the points as they sit 18th in La Liga, five points adrift of safety, with just seven games of the season remaining. "But we leave with a sour taste because we could have scored more goals". We hope to have him back soon.
A win for Zidane's side will consolidate their position at the top of the standings, but he accepted that Saturday's game was a potential banana skin.
Asked to explain his impressive record in big matches, Zidane said: "I think it is the DNA of this club". Maybe they had some difficulties during the season but they are a unsafe squad.
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Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was key to keeping Wednesday's game close as the hosts played the final 30 minutes with 10 men following the sending off of Javi Martinez with consecutive yellow cards. Yesterday was a special day, with a very important victory.
Pepe will also be missing from both matches with two broken ribs, while Raphael Varane has a thigh injury.
Zidane said he did not plan to call on any backup from the club's Castilla reserve side, while adding that rarely used left-back Fabio Coentrao could get a runout against Sporting.
"We did well to earn the comeback", Ronaldo said. So let's see if we can get over it.
"You will see how we are going to play but he is in the squad, happy and training well without any problems".
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