Real protest at France friendly

Real Madrid have joined Manchester United, Juventus, Arsenal and Chelsea to protest about France's decision to play a friendly against Australia.

France will meet Australia on November 11, which is a critical time in the season, but many clubs are refusing to loan their French stars out for the match. Real would lose midfielder Zinedine Zidane for the match, a move that would seriously inconvenience the Spanish champions.

Clubs are furious that their star players will be taken for a match that is to be played thousands of miles away and are worried that apart from being without top names for a lengthy period, the players may even return back jet-lagged or at worst, injured. The friendly match would hit Real hard, seeing as they would lose Zidane and midfielder Claude Makelele - both regulars in the line-up.

French officials have already angered several clubs by arranging a recent friendly at the other end of the world in Chile. English clubs are putting pressure on national team selector Roger Lemerre to leave their talented stars and the likes of Juventus and Real Madrid are sure to follow suit.