Real Madrid coach Rafa Benitez has a full squad available, including forward Karim Benzema, for Saturday's La Liga Clasico at home to Barcelona. Real surrendered top spot to its arch rival when it was beaten 3-2 at Sevilla in its last outing and defeat to the champion would leave it six points adrift after 12 matches. Benzema, one of several key players to have been sidelined in recent months, picked up a hamstring strain playing for France in October and has missed four domestic league games and two Champions League matches. Benitez told a news conference Friday Benzema was in the squad and a decision on his participation would be taken Saturday. Center back and captain Sergio Ramos, who has been struggling with a shoulder injury that kept him out of the most recent Spain squad, would definitely play, Benitez added. The former Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Napoli manager was also quizzed about Benzema's mental state following last week's attacks in Paris and his implication in a blackmail probe. The 27-year-old was put under formal judicial investigation this month in connection with an alleged attempt to blackmail Olympique Lyonnais forward Mathieu Valbuena with the use of a sex video. "We'll talk to him and assess how he is in every sense and decide what is best for us and him," Benitez said. Real's Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been off color in recent weeks and Benitez said he was sure the FIFA Ballon d'Or holder would be back on song soon. "Cristiano is a fundamental player," Benitez, who will take charge of his first Clasico at the Bernabeu, told reporters. "He has the capacity to score a lot of goals, he has my absolute confidence that he will score a lot of goals and he is a guarantee and he will do that. "However he does it I don't care. The important thing is that he feels comfortable, that he gets forward and scores." China complains over disallowed ‘goal' Chinese football authorities have lodged a complaint over a disallowed "goal," reports said Friday, after a 0-0 draw with Hong Kong left its World Cup qualifying hopes hanging by a thread. China has protested over Yu Dabao's shot late in Tuesday's game, which appeared to cross the line before Hong Kong goalkeeper Yapp Hung-fai clawed it back, the official Xinhua news agency said. The goalless draw in front of Hong Kong's jubilant fans left China third in its group with two games left and struggling to reach the next round of qualifiers for Russia 2018. But Xinhua conceded the complaint to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had little chance of changing the game's result — a sentiment echoed by Hong Kong Football Association vice chairman Pui Kwan-kay. "The match is so important to them and they have to do something to express their discontent and pacify the fans and the media," Pui told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. "There are already tons of complaints on websites in China about the goal being disallowed... I feel sorry for them and if it happens to the Hong Kong team, we would probably do the same. "This is understandable but as we all know in the soccer community, it will not change the result." The CFA and the AFC were not immediately available for comment. — Agencies
