Real Madrid's Benzema, Ronaldo, Bale start together for 1st time in 279 days

Real Madrid's infamous "BBC" trio will start together for the first time in 279 days after manager Zinedine Zidane named Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo to his starting lineup for a La Liga tilt with Valencia.

The last time the trio started together was April 23, 2017 in a 3-2 loss to rival Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu. Since then, Real Madrid has experimented with a number of emergent players, the most prominent of which was Isco. The Spain international found a rich vein of form and figured his way into the starting XI after Bale picked up a calf injury in the loss to Barcelona.

Bale has subsequently suffered a string of injuries that have kept him out of the team entirely after re-injuring his calf in September of 2017, pulling a hamstring in November, and suffering another calf issue in early December. He has missed 22 matches in all competitions since suffering the initial problem against Barcelona, with Isco, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, and Borja Mayoral all stepping in to replace him in the attack, whether centrally or on the right wing.

Benzema has also struggled with various injuries since last April, suffering a hamstring injury in September and then another at the start of January that ruled him out during the time Bale returned to action. It forced Zidane to once again use others to fill in on the attacking front.

Ronaldo has remained a consistent figure on the left throughout this stretch.

However, he alone could not keep Real Madrid at its very best, and the club has since fallen from its graces, sitting fourth in La Liga. It has put Zidane on the hot seat. The French manager is likely hoping the return of the BBC triumvirate is the recipe for redemption.