Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 7y

Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale to miss Real Madrid's Copa del Rey tie

Real Madrid stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale will be rested for Wednesday evening's Copa del Rey game at third-tier La Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa -- but midfielder Toni Kroos makes the trip due to a lack of midfield cover in the Los Blancos squad.

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has stuck to his rotation policy for the game at the Estadio Reino de Leon, leaving most of his big names at home and calling up fit-again Fabio Coentrao and forward Mariano Diaz to his 16-man travelling squad.

However, with other senior midfield options Casemiro and Luka Modric both currently injured, Zidane has decided to include Kroos, even though the Germany international has played more minutes than any of his teammates this term across La Liga and the Champions League -- 1031 of 1080 in total.

The club statement announcing the travelling squad also confirmed that Keylor Navas and Marcelo were the other senior stars who were being given the evening off.

"Real Madrid kick off this year's Copa del Rey at the Reino de León stadium," the statement said. "Zinedine Zidane has named a squad of 16 players for Real Madrid's first-leg of the knockout phase of the Copa del Rey, against Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa in the Reino de León stadium (Wednesday, 9pm CEST).

"REAL MADRID SQUAD: Goalkeepers: Casilla and Rubén Yáñez; Defenders: Pepe, Varane, Nacho, Carvajal, Coentrão and Danilo; Midfielders: Kroos, James, Kovacic, Asensio and Isco; Forwards: Lucas Vázquez, Mariano and Morata."

Ahead of last weekend's 2-1 La Liga win at home to Athletic Bilbao, in which Kroos was vital as Madrid pushed for their late winner, Zidane was asked if he had concerns about the former Bayern Munich midfielder, 26, being overplayed.

"I am not worried as he is not worried," the Frenchman replied at Friday's news conference. "We know that we have just Case and him for that position [in deep midfield]. He always says he can play. So I am relaxed about that."

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