Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti will recall his key players for Saturday's La Liga clash with Villarreal.

There were wholesale changes for the Copa del Rey contest with Cacereno on Tuesday, and Los Blancos only squeezed into the last-16 stage of the competition courtesy of a second-half effort from Rodrygo.

Real Madrid are again set to be without the services of Mariano Diaz due to an ankle problem, while Dani Carvajal and Alvaro Odriozola are also out, so Lucas Vazquez could feature at right-back this weekend.

There had been some concern over Thibaut Courtois's fitness ahead of the match, but the Belgium international has been cleared to start on Saturday afternoon.

Vazquez, Aurelien Tchouameni and Eder Militao might be the only three players to keep their spots from the midweek match, with David Alaba, Ferland Mendy, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, Federico Valverde and Vinicius Junior set to return alongside Courtois.

Benzema netted a brace in the 2-0 win over Real Valladolid in the league last weekend, and the Frenchman will now be looking to kick on after an indifferent first half of the campaign.

Antonio Rudiger is pushing for a starting role, and Ancelotti has the option of playing Militao at right-back or moving Alaba across to left-back, but the German might ultimately be named among the substitutes once again.

Real Madrid possible starting lineup: Courtois; Vazquez, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius body check tags ::