Owen to start against Barcelona, Figo dropped

England striker Michael Owen will start Real Madrid's crunch league game against arch-rivals Barcelona on Sunday, coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo has said.

Luxemburgo said he had decided to play Owen alongside Ronaldo and Raul in attack and drop former Barca winger Luis Figo to the bench for the game at the Bernabeu.

"I don't like the fact that people have found out the team I was trying out in training, but I'm not going to lie about the line-up," Luxemburgo told a news conference on Saturday. "Owen, Raul and Ronaldo will start."

Second-placed Real trail leaders Barcelona by nine points in the league with eight matches left and must beat their rivals if they are to have any chance of depriving them of the title.

The Brazilian played down the significance of leaving Figo on the bench but said he expected the Portuguese midfielder, who has been one of Real's most effective players this season, to be upset at the decision.

"It would be understandable if Figo is angry because he has a great track record and has been an international," said Luxemburgo.

"But putting Figo to one side, my concern was that Owen has to play and to do that I had to sacrifice either Raul, Zidane or Figo."

"Owen has been training well, I saw him play two good games for England and he was in good form against Albacete last week. That means he has played three good games in a row and that's why I thought it was time to give him a chance."

Owen has scored 10 league goals this season from 12 starts, including last week's winner against Albacete, while his rivals for a place in the team have been in poor form.

Ronaldo is going through one of the most barren periods in his career, scoring just once in the last 11 league games, while Raul has found the net just six times all season.

Luxemburgo's decision to drop Figo came as a surprise and has fuelled speculation the winger may be on his way out of the club.

However, the coach said he alone had been responsible for Figo's omission.

"I have a lot of respect for the club president (Florentino Perez), but I decided to do this and no one else was involved," he said.

"When I came to Real Madrid I made it clear that the well being of the team was more important than any one player or his prestige."