Key absentees for Las Palmas clash

Vicente Del Bosque will be without several first-team members when Real travel to the Canary Islands to face Las Palmas next Wednesday.

International players Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo and Steve McManaman will be with their respective national sides, meaning that they will not be available for the league clash on October 3.

Roberto Carlos will be with the Brazilian squad who meet Chile in a crucial World Cup qualifier on October 7, McManaman joins England's squad as they seek to confirm qualification for Japan and Korea by beating Greece on October 6, while Figo is in the line-up for Portugal's match at home to Estonia the same day.

Real are waiting to hear whether France will want to take Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele for a friendly against Algeria on October 6. If the match goes ahead, then Real will request that both players join Roger Lemerre's squad on the Thursday, once the game against Las Palmas is out of the way.

Real are able to do this as FIFA states that players must be with their national teams five days before an official match but just three days before if the game is a friendly.

Striker Elvir Baljic will also be unavailable next Wednesday as he will be with the Bosnian squad, who meet Liechtenstein in a World Cup qualifier next Saturday.