Solari does not call up Cristo Gonzalez despite Real Madrid's absentees

Real Madrid face Real Sociedad on Sunday evening and Los Blancos have a raft of injuries, particularly in attacking areas, yet Santiago Solari has opted not to call upon Cristo Gonzalez.

Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio and Mariano Diaz are all unavailable due to their respective knocks and Cristo, who is Castilla's top scorer and has been training with the first team, has instead travelled Galicia ahead of his side's game against Pontevedra.

The decision was particularly interesting as Madrid will be lacking attacking options on the bench tomorrow, with one of Vinicius Junior, Isco or Lucas Vazquez set to miss out from the starting XI.

Having trained with the first team all week, Cristo would have expected to be on the bench against La Real after the injury to Bale on Thursday evening, but Solari has made his decision.

Another Castilla player who joined in first team training was Jorge de Frutos, who was suspended from Castilla's match this weekend against Pontevedra; he would be unable to play for the first team due to his suspension, too.

The expected bench will therefore see three defenders (Alvaro Odriozola, Nacho and Sergio Reguilon), two midfielders (Fede Valverde and Dani Ceballos) and just one attacker (one of Lucas, Vinicius or Isco), in addition to the goalkeeper Keylor Navas; in the squad, there will be four full-backs but just one striker, Karim Benzema.

Cristo had scored on his first team debut, in the first leg victory against Melilla in Solari's first game in charge, while for Castilla he has nine goals and six assists in the Segunda B, making him the best in both categories for Madrid's B team.