Spanish La Liga Champions Real Madrid will be without Welsh winger Gareth Bale and Belgian forward Eden Hazard when the team files out for their first game of the 2020-2021 La Liga season.

According to the reports, Zinedine Zidane is preparing for their absence ahead of the match as neither of the two were present in Real Madrid’s last training match against Getafe on Tuesday.

Belgian forward Hazard is injured and on his way back to fitness and thus was understandably excused while for Bale, his long-standing transfer issue with the club lingers on.

Eden Hazard was said to have trained separately on Tuesday as he still battles with an ankle problem that took him out of Belgium’s UEFA Nations League matches earlier this month.

Bale, on his own, is said to be close to a return to England as he is not in the plans of manager Zinedine Zidane this season as the club continues to negotiate for a transfer for the player who moved to the Spanish capital from London club Tottenham Hotspurs in 2013.

It was reported that Real Madrid are ready to help in taking care of 50% of Bale’s fees for any team interested in his services in a desperate bid to get rid of the forward.

While information about the game was minimal, it was reported that the training match which was held at the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium ended 6-0 in Real Madrid’s favour.

The Alfredo Di Stefano stadium will continue to host Real Madrid’s home games this season as the Santiago Bernabeau continue to get reconstructed.

All Spanish league games will continue behind closed doors without fans due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Real Madrid and Barcelona did not play in the first round of games of the La Liga last weekend as they both played in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League.

Real Madrid will open their season account on Sunday at Real Sociedad.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu