Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has said he will not take any risks with top scorer Karim Benzema in Wednesday's Champions League last-16 first leg tie against Atalanta, even with his side seriously short on striking options.
Benzema has scored 17 goals for Real this term but was one of nine enforced absences from Saturday's 1-0 win away to Real Valladolid in La Liga, a victory that moved them to within three points of leaders Atletico Madrid, who suffered a shock home defeat to Levante.
Mariano Diaz was the lone striker against Valladolid due to the absence of Benzema while wide forwards Eden Hazard and Rodrygo are also injured for the trip to Italy.
"We're [not] going to take any risks with Benzema because there's a long way to go in the season, and many games left to play," Zidane said.
"If he's OK he'll travel with us, if he isn't, he will not. We never take risks. Maybe we would if it was the Champions League final or the last game of the league season with the title on the line, but there's a long way to go.
"He has another scan tomorrow [Sunday] and we'll see how he is then."
The Spanish champions' injury crisis was highlighted by a study conducted by newspaper Marca. According to the Spanish daily, Real have suffered 41 injuries this season, in addition to five players missing games after testing positive for Covid-19. Twenty players have had spells on the sidelines, meanwhile, missing a combined 146 games.
With only 12 first-team players available for the trip to Valladolid, Zidane had to dip into Real's fountain of youth with youngsters Hugo Duro and Sergio Arribas coming on as substitutes.
Zidane did not hide his frustration over the injury crisis but praised his side for recording a fourth straight league win - courtesy of Casemiro's second-half header - in spite of their stretched resources.
"We aren't happy with the situation at all, we've talked about it a lot but there's not much we can do about it," he said.
"We have a lot of injuries but the players we do have available are very committed and we have to keep going. I'm delighted with everyone who played today, we worked hard all week and this is our reward."
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
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PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
ACC 2019: The winners in full
Best Actress Maha Alemi, Sofia
Best Actor Mohamed Dhrif, Weldi
Best Screenplay Meryem Benm’Barek, Sofia
Best Documentary Of Fathers and Sons by Talal Derki
Best Film Yomeddine by Abu Bakr Shawky
Best Director Nadine Labaki, Capernaum
TOUR RESULTS AND FIXTURES
June 3: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 Lions 13
June 7: Blues 22 Lions 16
June 10: Crusaders 3 Lions 12
June 13: Highlanders 23 Lions 22
June 17: Maori All Blacks 10 Lions 32
June 20: Chiefs 6 Lions 34
June 24: New Zealand 30 Lions 15 (First Test)
June 27: Hurricanes 31 Lions 31
July 1: New Zealand 21 Lions 24 (Second Test)
July 8: New Zealand v Lions (Third Test) - kick-off 11.30am (UAE)
ENGLAND SQUAD
Team: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Sam Simmonds
Replacements 16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Jack Nowell
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