Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 9y

Gareth Bale replacing banned Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid vs. Sociedad

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti says Gareth Bale will play in the position of the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo in Saturday's La Liga clash with Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu.

The two-game ban imposed on Ronaldo after being sent off for kicking out at Edimar during Madrid's 2-1 win over Cordoba last weekend covers Saturday's clash with David Moyes' side, as well as next Wednesday's rearranged home fixture against Sevilla.

Bale has often shone in the Madrid team during Ronaldo's rare absences, and has scored 11 goals in those 11 games -- nine of which were wins for Los Blancos.

The Wales winger also stepped up when Ronaldo was dismissed last week, both winning and converting the late penalty which brought the three points to keep the stumbling side atop the La Liga table.

Ancelotti told his pregame news conference that the reshuffle would see Bale take up Ronaldo's position on the left of the attack, with James Rodriguez playing the shuttling role with more defensive responsibilities down the right side of the pitch.

"[Bale] will change his position," he said. "He will play on the left. I prefer to have James on the right wing. But we will play the same way. We will defend with a 4-4-2 and James will have a position further forward in attack. We are not going to change the system."

Ancelotti said that Ronaldo had accepted his punishment for last week's incident, while denying that the break ahead of Madrid's crunch game at rivals Atletico Madrid would allow the Portugal international to do some rehab work on his left knee.

"Top quality players have more to deal with, jersey pulls and fouls, but that is normal," he said. "[Cristiano] was the first to apologise for his reaction. He made a mistake, he knows that, and he apologised.

"It will not happen again. A suspension is never good. He will fulfill it without problems and take advantage to work towards the derbi. He has nothing to recover from, as he has no problems in his knee or anywhere else."

Madrid lost 4-2 at Sociedad on the second weekend of the current season, a result which came amid much upheaval at the Bernabeu after Angel Di Maria and Xabi Alonso were sold, and replaced with James and Toni Kroos.

"That happened at a certain moment," Ancelotti said. "Later we played well. We just needed time for the new players to settle in. Now there is another Madrid."

Ex-La Real midfielder Asier Illarramendi, who this week turned down the chance to make a 25 million-euro move to Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao, is to make a rare start against his former team.

"[Illarramendi] will play tomorrow," Ancelotti said. "He had an offer from Athletic, but the player is comfortable and happy here. And we are too, because whenever he has played he has always done well."

New 13 million-euro signing Lucas Silva, a supposed long-term replacement for Illarra in the Madrid squad, could also feature, with Ancelotti saying: "[Lucas Silva] is in the squad. He is going well, and it is possible that we give him some playing time."

However Madrid's other January signing, 16-year-old Norwegian starlet Martin Odegaard is not yet ready to make his debut in the first team, with Ancelotti adding: "There needs to be patience, so [Odegaard] can show his quality. He must be given time to improve. We have to manage his talent."

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