Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has suggested that Sergio Ramos will be available to face Chelsea in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, despite leaving him out of his squad to face Osasuna in La Liga.

The legendary Spaniard has missed Real’s last nine games in all competitions, and watched on from the sidelines for both legs of the quarter-final win over Liverpool.

He again had a watching brief in midweek as Karim Benzema cancelled out Christian Pulisic’s early goal to earn Real a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in Valdebebas, but Zidane – speaking in a news conference ahead of Saturday’s clash with Osasuna – confirmed he’s back in training, even though he was later left out of the squad for this weekend.

„He [Ramos] is training with us and that means he’s able to play too,“ Zidane said (quoted by MailOnline Sport) „We’ll see what we do when we name the squad, but Sergio is fit and ready to play.“

Zidane also spoke of the thrilling La Liga title race which sees four clubs in with a chance of winning Spain’s top domestic prize. Neighbourhood rivals Atletico currently top the table on 73 points, with Real and Barcelona close behind on 71 points. Julen Lopetegui’s Sevilla are a point further back, with each side having five games left to play.

After Saturday’s game with Osasuna, Real face Chelsea in midweek before taking on Sevilla at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium on Saturday, 9 May – and Zidane says his side, despite the distraction of trying to win the Champions League, will be doing everything in their power to wrap up a 35th La Liga title.

„La Liga is always such a tough competition and it’ll be that way until the end,“ the Frenchman remarked. „We want to win this league title, we know it’ll be difficult but we’re going to give everything to do so until the end of the season.

„There’s obviously been a lot of games, players have had problems, but in a season all sorts of things happen. The important thing is that we’re ready to go out there and compete.“