Cristiano Ronaldo rested for Real Madrid trip to Leganes with Modric, Marcelo and Kroos injured

Cristiano Ronaldo and Keylor Navas have been omitted from Real Madrid's 18-man squad to face Leganes on Wednesday (21 February) with manager Zinedine Zidane also without Luka Modric, Marcelo, Toni Kroos and Jesus Vallejo.

Los Blancos' game due to their participation in the Fifa Club Word Cup gives them the opportunity to reduce the current 17-point gap to leaders Barcelona at the top of La Liga table.

However, it appears that Zidane has all but given up on Real's hopes of retaining the La Liga title and is already thinking ahead to the crucial second leg of the Champions League last 16 against Paris Saint Germain on 6 March, which the Spanish side lead 3-1.

The Real boss has opted to rest both Ronaldo and Navas with Real having three further games in La Liga against Alaves (24 February), Espanyol (27 February) and Getafe (3 March) before the decisive trip to Paris.

"Cristiano has been playing 60 or 70 games for 10 years. He doesn't stop. There comes a moment when it's necessary for everyone to not play from time to time. He's better doing it this way and of course we talk about it," Zidane explained in the press conference ahead of the trip to Butarque.

Modric and Marcelo will be unavailable after on Tuesday [20 February] the club revealed that they had joined Kroos on the treatment table duet to respective leg muscle injuries.

Dani Ceballos, Mateo Kovacic and Theo Hernandez could cover them in Butarque while Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio are expected to lead the attack in the absence of Ronaldo.

Leganes recently knocked Real out of the Copa del Rey but after three consecutive victories Zidane is confident his side can maintain their good run despite the number of absentees.

"We're playing well at the minute, we're showing what we can do and we want to continue with our good run. It's what we try to prepare for every week. We've got another match tomorrow and we want to have the same concentration and intensity to carry on with what we're doing. We're totally focused on tomorrow because there are three points at stake against Legané," Zidane said following successive wins against Real Sociedad, PSG and Betis.

"The message is always the same, but there are many factors that come into play. We know that everything is important to us. The Champions League and LaLiga, because it's very important to finish as high as possible. We want to have continuity and we're doing much better lately. The second half against Betis was phenomenal. It's what will guide us to achieve good things this year. We have another game tomorrow and hopefully we can win again."