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Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says he is taking no risks with his players in preseason, meaning players including Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale are unlikely to be given much game time ahead of the start of La Liga on Aug. 20. Madrid are currently on a preseason tour of North America, having spent 10 days training in Montreal, before games in the United States against Paris Saint-Germain (Columbus), Chelsea (Ann Arbor) and Bayern Munich (New Jersey). Training began under new fitness coach Antonio Pintus with just the 14 first-team players who had no international commitments this summer, including Karim Benzema, Marcelo, Isco, Raphael Varane, Casemiro and Jese Rodriguez. Others, such as Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric and James Rodriguez, have since joined up with the rest of the squad but Ronaldo, who won Euro 2016 with Portugal, and Bale, who reached the semifinals with Wales, remain on holiday. Ronaldo has already said it is unlikely he will play in the UEFA Supercup against Sevilla on Aug. 9, while Bale will be in training but will not yet be at 100 percent fitness for that game. "We must prepare well for the season and we are working well," Zidane said at a news conference in Ohio ahead of Madrid's first preseason outing this summer against PSG. "The Euros ended late and we are not going to take any risks. I want the players to return at 100 percent. We have a deep enough squad to cover the others. "We will always put out the best available team. We have an important game on Aug. 9, and we have the players to play a good game in the Supercup." James Rodriguez's return to the squad at this stage has been criticised in the Madrid media, given that the Colombia international's Copa America Centenario commitments ended on June 25. Other Madrid players whose international commitments finished on the same date or later, such as Croatia's Mateo Kovacic (June 25) and Spain's Alvaro Morata and Lucas Vazquez (June 27), have been praised in the Spanish press for returning to club duty earlier than expected. Zidane avoided comment on those media debates while saying that he would look to use all of his available players against Unai Emery's PSG side in Columbus. "This is the first game and we want to do well," the Frenchman said. "They will all get time as we have working very well for these first 10 days. "I don't know who will play the first half or second half, but the important thing is we will play with two strikers. The players have had a spectacular week [in Montreal] and now we are all happy to start playing games. For sure James, Ramos and Modric will not play against PSG."
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