No Hazard, Bale or James for Real Madrid's victory lap at Leganes

Dom Farrell
July 18, 2020 17:19 MYT
Eden Hazard, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez have been omitted from Real Madrid's squad to face Leganes.

Zinedine Zidane's side will conclude their triumphant LaLiga campaign on Sunday, unblemished form since the resumption seeing off bitter rivals Barcelona with a game to spare.

Los Blancos' 34th Spanish title has been secured largely without the input of Hazard, Bale and James.

Hazard has struggled for form and fitness since joining from Chelsea for €100million before the start of the season.

The 29-year-old Belgium international was still recently feeling the effects of surgery on a broken foot and, although he started for the first time in five matches in the title-clinching 2-1 win over Villarreal, he will miss out this weekend.

Our 22-man squad for the match against @CDLeganes_en!#LeganesRealMadrid | #RMLiga pic.twitter.com/Y2JwQxuGoo

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) July 18, 2020
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Hazard is still expected to have a productive future at Madrid, although it is hard to say the same for Bale and James.

Wales forward Bale has become an increasingly marginalised figure since Zidane's return last term. He has appeared just twice since the restart and the 31-year-old's absence from Sunday's travelling party will end a run of six matches as an unused substitute.

It will be James' fifth game in a row in which he has not been involved. The Colombia playmaker spent the previous two seasons on loan at Bayern Munich and his only appearance of 2020 came when he was handed a surprise start in last month's 2-1 win at Real Sociedad.

James, 29, has a year left on his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu, while Bale's terms run through until 2022.

After facing Leganes - who sit third bottom and must extend their superb late-season form to four wins from five unbeaten matches to have a chance of survival - Madrid travel to face Manchester City on August 7, when they will attempt to overturn a 2-1 deficit in the Champions League last-16 tie.

#Real Madrid #Zinedine Zidane #Gareth Bale #Eden Hazard #football #James Rodriguez