Bale and Benzema injured ahead of Spanish Super Cup

Madrid (AFP) – Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale will miss the Spanish Super Cup after Real Madrid announced on Monday that both players were out with fitness problems.

Benzema has a hamstring injury while Madrid said Bale has been “diagnosed with an infection in the upper respiratory tract”. 

The duo will not travel to Saudi Arabia, where Madrid face Valencia in the semi-finals of a revised four-team tournament on Wednesday, after being left out of a squad list released by the club on Monday.

The winner will face either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in the final in Jeddah on Sunday.

Real coach Zinedine Zidane said on Friday that he will also be without Eden Hazard as the Belgian has failed to recover from an ankle fracture.

The decision in November to hold a four-team Super Cup in Saudi Arabia in the European winter for the next three years caused controversy.

Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE refused to bid for the rights to the  due to it being held in a country where “human rights are not respected”.