Real Madrid held a minute of silence on Friday (March 3) in honour of former Real Madrid player, Raymond Kopa, on their last training session before visiting Eibar on Saturday (March 4).
Real Madrid will visit Basque minnows Eibar without Gareth Bale after the Wales international was sent off against Las Palmas, where two late strikes from Cristiano Ronaldo prevented a second defeat for Zinedine Zidane's side in three games.
Ronaldo trained apart from the group making long careers and stretching and is likely to miss Saturday's match.
"Yes he has had some discomforts but nothing big. That's why he didn't train with us this morning. As you know, all the matches are important but the most important thing is that the player is fine. So we will see what we do with Cristiano tomorrow," Zidane said in a news conference previewing the match
The French coach said something had to change to arrest their recent slide and prevent their bid for a first league title since 2012 derailing.
"We expect to play well in this match. To play a good 90 minute match. We know the difficulties we will have. It's a difficult pitch as you said, but we will take it on as we do any other match," he said.
Apart from Bale, striker Alvaro Morata is banned due to yellow card accumulation.
Defenders Raphael Varane and Fabio Coentrao also didn't train with the group.
Before the training session started, players and staff members held a minute of silence in honour of Former Real Madrid player, Raymond Kopa.
Former France soccer great Raymond Kopa, who won three European Cups with Real Madrid in the 1950s, died at the age of 85 on Friday.
"He (Raymond Kopa) is the French player who showed us all the road to Spain. It's not easy to come to Spain and play with the best players. He marked an era and we are really upset because of his death. These are difficult times for his family overall, but also for the entire soccer family. We have all respected him and loved him, so this is not easy," the Frenchman said.
Kopa was one of four French players, with Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane and Jean-Pierre Papin, to have won the Ballon d'Or, soccer's top individual award.
"For me and for everyone he is an example. I wasn't able to watch him when I was a child but I have seen a lot of pictures of him. He showed us the path, not only here in Real Madrid, but with the French national team too. The last time he came in January and every time he came to Madrid he felt the support of the people because of everything he did for this club. Real Madrid has paid tribute every time they have had a chance. When he came in January for the Ballon D'Or we knew he wasn't well but everything that has been said about Kopa is positive and we will keep paying tribute to him. I really liked talking about soccer with him, I really enjoyed it," Zidane also said about Kopa.
Born in northern France in a family of Polish immigrants, Kopa won three consecutive European Cups with Real Madrid from 1957.
