Pick Your Real Madrid Team - Cristiano Ronaldo Still Out

Real Madrid welcome back their busy international stars after a hectic week of World Cup qualifying play-offs and friendlies and the news has not been good for coach, Manuel Pellegrini as he prepares his men to welcome Racing Santander to the Santiago Bernabeu.

Key midfielder, Lassana Diarra has failed to make the list after returning from France’s controversial World Cup qualification with a right adductor strain. But Raul Albiol has surprisingly been included despite sustaining what looked like a serious knee injury in Spain’s friendly win over Austria just three days ago.

Ruud van Nistelrooy has been forced to withdraw from the convoy again as he nurses a calf muscle ailment while for the umpteenth game in succession, Guti has been left out, albeit due to bruising in his left quadriceps. Sergio Ramos in ineligible following his straight red card against Atletico Madrid a fortnight ago.

The big news, however, centres on Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese has made a near-full recovery from his long-term ankle injury and has resumed normal training with the rest of his team-mates, but Pellegrini has opted to leave him out for this game.

The Chilean will thus have the following 18 men at his disposal:

Goalkeepers: Casillas, Dudek

Defenders: Arbeloa, Albiol, Garay, Metzelder, Pepe, Marcelo

Midfielders: Mahamadou Diarra, Gago, Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Van der Vaart, Granero, Drenthe

Forwards: Raul, Benzema, Higuain

We ask you to leave your choices in the comments feature below using hyphens to separate positions, working from right to left. For example, here is the side that could line up in a 4-4-2 formation:

Casillas – Arbeloa, Pepe, Garay, Marcelo – Higuain, Xabi Alonso, Diarra, Kaka – Raul, Benzema

Hala Madrid!

Goal.com