MADRID, Oct 9: Real Madrid will look to the vast experience of Zinedine Zidane to guide a drastically weakened side past third division Playas Jandia and into the King’s Cup third round on Wednesday.

Real will make the trip to the Canary Islands missing nine players through injury, including first-team regulars Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos, Aitor Karanka, Michel Salgado and Ivan Helguera.

With coach Vicente del Bosque opting to rest Fernando Hierro and Raul, it will be down to Zidane to ensure there is no repeat of last year’s fiasco, when Real went out at the same stage to third division Toledo.

“We have a lot of players out injured but we can’t afford to cry about it,” Del Bosque said ahead of the one-off game.

“I decided to leave out Raul and Hierro because they’ve played a lot of games recently and they need a rest.

“I believe we still have the players to make us the favourites for this game, though.”

Del Bosque is likely to start with the three youngsters who impressed in Saturday’s league game against Athletic Bilbao, full-back Raul Bravo, centre-back Francisco Pavon and winger Valdo.

Celta Vigo get the programme of second-round matches underway — teams in the top two divisions received byes through the first round — against fourth division Lemona on Tuesday.

The bulk of the games are on Wednesday and, apart from Real Madrid’s potential banana skin, the pick of the matches sees second division Atletico Madrid host first division basement side Rayo Vallecano in a local derby.

Barcelona and Deportivo Coruna, who are both involved in rescheduled Champions League matches on Wednesday, will play their games on November 7.

Ties involving Osasuna and Alaves have also been shifted to that date, by mutual agreement between the clubs.