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MADRID. — Zinedine Zidane has hinted that he could drop his superstar front three — the much-vaunted “BBC” — as their struggle for goals continues. Real Madrid are hoping Cristiano Ronaldo can end a lean period in front of goal as they attempt to keep their noses in front of a tight five-way race atop the Spanish La Liga soccer table at Alaves today.Real Madrid have won four on the trot but Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale have been outperformed by backup trio Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez and Alvaro Morata.

Ronaldo in particular has been out of form, enduring one of his worst goalscoring spells since moving to Spain for a world-record £80million from Manchester United. And with Asensio and Morata combing for four goals in the Copa del Rey destruction of Cultural Leonesa during the week, Zidane is under more pressure than ever to sit Ballon d’Or favourite Ronaldo on the bench.

“I’m not going to be unfair about it,” Zidane said mysteriously in his press conference yesterday. “But yes, I have to take decisions. I try and do what is best for everyone. Tomorrow (today) you will see who plays.”

Thirty-year-old Ronaldo is currently enduring one of the worst droughts of his time at the Bernabeu club, boasting just four goals this season in 768 minutes of play.

But the overall picture for the “BBC” against the back-up “MAL” is even worse. While Bale, Benzema and Cristiano have netted 12 times in 2 395 minutes this season, Vazquez, Asensio and Morata have managed 13 in less time — just 1 839 minutes on the field.

Asensio has six in 627 minutes from the wing while Morata, who is reportedly annoyed at being overlooked for a first-team berth after shunning moves away from Madrid in the summer, has the same amount of goals in 698 minutes.

Whether Zidane has the testicular fortitude to drop Ronaldo is a big test of his management but he also must concentrate on problems at the other end of the field.

Going under the radar right now is the fact that the Bernabeu club haven’t kept a clean sheet in eight games. And among the opponents in that time are third-tier minnows Cultural Leonesa, Champions League outsiders Legia Warsaw and La Liga strugglers Eibar — not that it appears to bother the French coach:

“It doesn’t worry me,” he said. “We are working on it. There is no explanation, but we have to work to allow fewer chances, but it will still work to always score one more than our opponents.”

Alaves have only won twice in their first nine games on their return to the top flight for the first time in a decade. Yet former Valencia and Liverpool defender Mauricio Pellegrino’s men have already proved they are more than capable of causing an upset as they shocked Barcelona at the Camp Nou last month and drew away to Atletico Madrid on the opening day of the season. — AFP.