Rotation did not go as planned

– Zinedine Zidane said in April Real Madrid would prioritise La Liga over the Champions League this season and their defeat to Real Mallorca on Saturday suggests they may not have the squad to do either.

“For us next year, the league must be our number one priority,” Zidane said.

“It’s the longest competition, it’s the one that cannot be missed.”

Yet Zidane made several changes ahead of tonight’s Group A game away at Galatasaray and those who came in failed to impress, with a blunt performance against Mallorca revealing familiar failings up front and causing Madrid to slip to their first league defeat of the campaign.

Some of the adjustments were enforced as Eden Hazard was absent following the birth of his fourth child on Friday while Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Gareth Bale were all nursing injuries of varying severity.

Raphael Varane and Dani Carvajal were rested, along with Fede Valverde, who had brought much-needed energy into the midfield.

Bale’s calf injury is believed to be minor but was considered too much of a risk and will also miss the trip to Turkey along with Ballon d’Or winner Modric.

Heavy rotation points to a belief in the utmost importance of the game against Galatasaray and a recognition from Zidane that Madrid cannot afford another misstep in Europe.

They cannot be complacent, having lost three of their last four visits to the Turkish giants.

“The problem is we have to show every three days that we are good,” Zidane said on Saturday.

“That is our difficulty and that is what we do not do. We must have consistency. We have to have more life in our game if we want to do important things.”

Real sit bottom of the group, with just one point from their opening two games.