Real Madrid: 5 players who must shine against Espanyol

Real Madrid will prepare for their Matchday 16 fixture against Espanyol without Eden Hazard, Marcelo, and Gareth Bale, who are all out after suffering injuries.

Zinedine Zidane’s tactical skills will once again be stretched in the month of December, as Real Madrid have been hit by a rough patch of injuries for the second time this season.

Eden Hazard’s ankle injury against PSG has turned out to be worse than expected, Marcelo will also be out through El Clasico, and Gareth Bale will miss the next two games in order to ensure that he is 100-percent for the all-important fixture at Camp Nou on Dec. 18.

This means Real Madrid must face Espanyol on Saturday afternoon at the Santiago Bernabeu with a shortage of wide players, placing more pressure on young players at the winger positions to step up this weekend.

But the attackers won’t be the only players who need to show they are game. Espanyol may be in the relegation zone, but they’d love nothing more than to play spoiler on Saturday on the road. As Real’s loss to RCD Mallorca in October showed Madridistas, there is no such thing as an easy game in La Liga.

Zidane himself has learned this lesson all too well.