Hazard, Ter Stegen, Dembele & Diego Costa missing from Spanish Super Cup (Sport)

Spain's newly formatted Spanish Super Cup begins on Wednesday when Valencia take on Real Madrid, but all four of Spain's top sides are missing key members of their first-team squads.

Eden Hazard (Real Madrid), Marc Andre Ter Stegen, Arthur and Ousmane Dembelé (Barcelona), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Guedes and Rodrigo Moreno (Valencia) have all been ruled out of the mini-tournament.

Hazard has opted to stay in Madrid as he steps up his recovery. The Belgian international has been out since he picked up an injury against PSG at the end of November. He's still expected to miss at least another two weeks of action.

Ter Stegen is being protected from a long-standing knee issue. Both the player and club want to avoid an operation and are giving him the time he needs to feel 100% again.

Dembele returned at the beginning of December but picked up another injury, his third of the season, and isn't expected to return until February.

Arthur has been suffering from a pubis problem. Even after the winter break, the midfielder is at least three weeks away from being available for selection.

Gonzalo Guedes has missed the majority of the season for Valencia and has suffered yet another setback. Rodrigo Moreno suffered a knee injury against Eibar and won't be risked. They join Manu Vallejo, Kangin Lee and Cristiano Piccini on the sidelines.

Diego Costa is the biggest absence for Atletico and the Spanish striker is desperately trying to be ready for the Champions League matches against Liverpool.