What's the story?
Ahead of the Champions League round of 16 second leg tie against Napoli, Real Madrid fans have voted against starting the famed 'BBC' trio. In a poll by AS.com, 77% of the Madrid supporters voted against Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale starting together at the San Paolo stadium.
In case you didn't know...
The reigning European champions won their last league game against Eibar with a comfortable scoreline of 4-1. Cristiano Ronaldo was rested for that game while Bale was serving his suspension as the team impressed in their absence which has prompted the fans to want a shift in the starting lineup.
Also Read: Real Madrid boss Zidane unmoved by Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema questions
Meanwhile, in Europe, Real Madrid won the first leg 3-1 against Napoli at the Bernabeu last month with Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos and Casemiro getting on the scoresheet.
The heart of the matter
A surprising survey result which saw more than 18,000 users voting against starting the BBC trio may have been taken after being impressed by the team's display against Eibar. In the absence of Ronaldo and Bale, Marcos Asensio and Lucas Vazquez started on the flanks for the Los Blancos.
They provided a hard working, fluid display which once again commenced the argument of Zidane's team playing better when either one of the 'BBC' men stays on the sidelines.
James Rodriguez was brilliant against Eibar as all the attacking players also performed their defensive duties which impressed the Madrid faithful. Only 5450 users voted yes to keep the trio in the lineup for the trip to Naples as the fans think that the tie is far from over at the moment with the Italian side having a stellar home record.
What's next?
Though the supporters have made their opinion clear on the attacking trio, manager Zinedine Zidane is not expected to make a knee jerk reaction by naming the same lineup against Naples that he did against Eibar.
Also Read: Ronaldo still the best despite changing role - Bale praises star Madrid team-mate
The manager is expected to start both Ronaldo and Bale while the fans would have to be content with the fact that Real Madrid would have a pretty strong bench in Naples to help out the team if needed.
Sportskeeda's Take
The duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have now had a week's rest to perform on all cylinders against Napoli as it would be a too huge a call to make for Zidane to drop one of them in the knockout stages. Along with the attacking options, the likes of Marcelo, Raphael Varane, Casemiro and Toni Kroos could also be in line to start against Napoli after getting a rest on Saturday.
