Bare bones for Bilbao clash

Real Madrid's squad will be further shorn of talent when they host Basques Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabeu on Saturday.

France coach Roger Lemerre will take Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele for an international friendly with Algeria on Saturday and Pedro Munitis, sent off against Las Palmas on Wednesday will miss the Athletic game through suspension.

Real coach Vicente Del Bosque will doubtless draft in Albert Celades to occupy a midfield role but he may be forced to do away with his specialised formation in the middle of the park.

Del Bosque has none of his regular midfielders at his disposal - Ivan Helguera and Flavio Concecaio are out injured while Makelele, Zidane and Steve McManaman are on international duty. Santiago Solari is available but he will be covering the left wing. Perhaps the only solution left is Celades, Solari, Raul and Guti in the centre with Jose Maria Gutierrez and Fernando Morientes in attack.

Guti may return to the squad, especially seeing as he always enjoys good fortunes against the Basques - he netted twice in Real's 4-1 win in the same fixture last season.