Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane hopes Gareth Bale can play some part in Napoli Champions League tie

Bale has been absent since sustaining an ankle injury in November

Bale required surgery to repair the tendon damage he suffered against Sporting Lisbon (Getty Images)

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says he hopes to have Wales forward Gareth Bale back from an ankle injury before the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at Napoli on March 7.

The 27-year-old damaged tendons during Real's 2-1 Champions League victory at Sporting Lisbon in November and underwent surgery in London.

"I hope he will be back before then (March 7)," Zidane told a news conference on Friday, ahead of the club's La Liga fixture away to Osasuna.

"He has been working well. He is enthusiastic and the only thing left is for him to train with the rest of the team, which is the most important thing."

Bale started the new season in formidable form, scoring seven goals and setting up three more in 16 appearances in all competitions for Real before his untimely injury.

He is the only Real player currently out injured and will miss the first leg of their Champions League clash against Napoli on Feb. 15.

Real, who are one point clear of Barcelona at the top of La Liga, with two games in hand, play at Osasuna on Saturday, two weeks after their last encounter, a 3-0 triumph over Real Sociedad.

Zidane has praised Bale for "working very well and looks determined" (Getty Images)

Their league match at Celta Vigo was postponed last week after bad weather in Galicia caused damage to the Balaidos stadium. The incident prompted a bitter war of words with the Mayor of Vigo, Abel Caballero, which culminated in Real releasing a press statement labelling Caballero's comments as “inappropriate” and “totally inaccurate”.

"We always want to play so 15 days without playing is a lot," Zidane said of the gap caused by the postponement. "I don't know if it will affect us. We shall see tomorrow. We have trained well, we are physically well."

Meanwhile, second place Barcelona took advantage of Real's postponement by beating Athletic Bilbao 3-0.