Real have played 12 games since
Bale returned to full fitness and he is still yet to play the full 90 minutes in any of those matches, with that trend continuing in Sunday's 5 - 3 win over Real Betis.
Not exact matches
James has impressed during the absence of
Bale and he will look
to make it as difficult as possible for Zidane
to leave him out by putting in another good performance, even when the Welsh superstar eventually
returns to full fitness.
Bale's
return to full fitness saw Zidane, under pressure after a poor run of form, revert back
to the 4 -3-3 system; the playmaker was no longer part of the starting XI.
He has allowed
Bale to take his time in
returning to full fitness, and it is only because Ronaldo has been in such fine form that there has been no rush
to bring back the Welshman.