Real Madrid vs Villarreal. Spanish La Liga.
Santiago BernabeuAttendance64,582.
Wednesday 21 September 2016 19:03, UK
Zinedine Zidane has the luxury of welcoming Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale back as Real Madrid seek a record 17th consecutive La Liga win.
Ronaldo, Real's all-time leading goalscorer, missed Sunday's 2-0 win at Espanyol with a sore throat while record signing Bale was out with a hip injury sustained in the Champions League win over Sporting Lisbon.
"They are both well, they trained normally and are both 100 per cent," Zidane said ahead of game with Villarreal, who are unbeaten this season having won two and drawn two of their four games.
The return of Bale and Ronaldo means Zidane will be able to start with his first choice front three - Bale, Ronaldo and Karim Benzema - for the first time in a league game this season.
Veteran defender Pepe, however, will miss out after finishing the Espanyol game injured and goalkeeper Keylor Navas has still not recovered from surgery on his Achilles.
Real are top of La Liga and are the only team in the top flight to have won all four of their opening games.
Despite ending last season with a 12-game winning run, Real still missed out on the La Liga title to Barcelona by a point, and Zidane insisted a new record run will mean nothing unless they end a five-year drought without the league title come May.
"The records are nice and we are going to try to keep winning. That is what we want, but we haven't won anything," he added.
"This is going to be a very long and difficult season. There will be difficult moments. Just now it seems like everything is going perfectly, but that won't always be the case.
"Tomorrow we have another game, nothing more. There is nothing else in our minds."
Zidane's side have been criticised by Spanish media for their uninspiring performances in the flawless start to the Primera Division campaign.
The European champions needed an 89th-minute equaliser and a stoppage-time winner to beat Sporting in their opening Champions League game, and had nervous moments against Espanyol before Benzema sealed the points.
Zidane, however, shrugged off the negative comments, adding: "Criticism is expected here, you know when you are a player or coach here that you will face greater demands than anywhere else, you know that when you sign for Real Madrid.
"You can always improve whether you're a player or a coach but we are doing pretty well. We're going to try and improve our play and keep a clean sheet.
"But we know we'll have a very difficult game at home, against a very good side who are unbeaten, so we'll have to prepare for the game well."
Watch Real Madrid v Villarreal live on Wednesday, 6.30pm, Sky Sports 2 HD
