Van Nistelrooy And Heinze Return For Betis Clash

Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gabriel Heinze will both be in contention for a place in Bernd Schuster's side to face Real Betis on Saturday after recovering from injury.

Van Nistelrooy has recovered from his ankle injury and took part in full training with the rest of the Madrid squad on Thursday without problems, while Heinze also took some part in the session after returning from his own injury woes.

Schuster will not face the dilemma of whether to play them against Betis on Saturday or save them for Madrid's trip to Rome on Tuesday for the first-leg of their Champions League tie with AS Roma.

His hand may be slightly forced in Heinze's case, as Sergio Ramos and Miguel Torres are both doubtful for the Betis game and with Pepe and Cristoph Metzelder definitely out through injury, Madrid are low on numbers in defence.

Ramos did take some part in Thursday's session, but is 50/50 to be fit in time for Saturday due to an injury in the abductor muscle in his right leg, while Torres was injured playing for Spain U-21's last week and is struggling to be fit in time.

Up front, Javier Saviola is the only player out injured and with Raúl scoring twice as the central striker in their 7-0 win over Valladolid last weekend, Schuster may be more inclined to rest van Nistelrooy in anticipation of the Roma tie.