Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale ruled out for Real Madrid trip to Deportivo La Coruña

Zinedine Zidane has surprisingly rested Cristiano Ronaldo and Toni Kroos for the trip to Deportivo la Coruña on Wednesday night (26 April) even though Real Madrid will be searching for a victory to put Sunday's defeat to Barcelona behind. Gareth Bale, Pepe and Fabio Coentrao will also miss the game due to different injuries but Raphael Varane returns to the squad to cover the absence of suspended Sergio Ramos in the heart of the defence.

Los Blancos visit Riazor only three days later after suffering a 3-2 defeat in El Clasico which dented their hope to win La Liga title.

Real Madrid currently sit in the second position of the table behind Barcelona due to the head-to-head record, although Zidane' side still have one game in hand against Celta Vigo to turn around the situation.

However, it looks that Zidane's priority is in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals against Atletico Madrid on 2 May as the France boss has left out Ronaldo and Kroos out of his 19-man squad to face Deportivo.

The Real Madrid boss is thus expected to deploy a much-changed line-up as three other important players like Bale, Ramos and Pepe will also miss the game due to different reasons.

Bale suffered a grade 2 injury in his left calf during the 3-2 defeat to Barcelona and is expected to be out of action for around three weeks, missing both legs of the Champions League semi-finals against Atletico Madrid.

Ramos also started in El Clasico but will miss the trip to Deportivo after being shown the red card for a two-footed tackle on Lionel Messi.

Meanwhile, Pepe is yet to play since the La Liga draw with Atletico Madrid on 8 April due to a rib injury and will continue on the sidelines when Real Madrid visit Riazor.

This way Zidane has welcomed back Varane in his 19-man squad following a long-term spell on the sidelines. The France centre-back has been out of action since the win over Alaves on 2 April but could return to the starting-line up as the Real Madrid boss only has another centre-back available to face Deportivo in Nacho.

Meanwhile, the France boss has promoted full-back Alvaro Tejero from the second team as injury-prone Coentrao has also failed to make the trip to La Coruña.