Ruben de la Red will cheer on his Real Madrid team-mates from home this weekend following his health scare in midweek.

The Spain Euro 2008 winner fainted just 13 minutes into the match and, although initial tests eased fears that it might be something serious, he spent the night under observation in a local hospital.

The incident involving De la Red evoked memories of late Sevilla player Antonio Puerta, who just over a year ago died in hospital a few days after also collapsing on the pitch during a league match against Getafe.

Subsequent tests on De la Red have not revealed any problems, but the 23-year-old midfielder will spend the next few days recovering at home - meaning he will have to watch Madrid's clash at Almeria from his sofa.

"The tests have said everything is well, but as a precaution they have told me to spend this weekend at home," he told www.realmadrid.com.

"Fortunately I feel very well and I want to thank everyone who was concerned about me and the countless displays of support that I've received.

"I will take advantage of the chance to be with my five-month old son and I will watch the game against Almeria on television.

"They are three important points which we need and I'm sure that we are going to win. The team is strong and motivated."

Madrid are currently third in the Primera Liga standings having won six of their eight games this season, but they did not have a good trip to third division Real Union as, aside from De la Red collapsing, they also lost the game 3-2.

The Spanish champions have a chance to turn that tie around in the second leg, but before then they have a potentially tough league encounter against an Almeria side that beat them 2-0 in last year's corresponding fixture.

Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said: "It's possible that something similar could happen. They have had a change of coach, they play a little different, but in all matches like this, teams are highly motivated to do well against Real Madrid and we know it."

Aside from De la Red, Madrid will also be without Ruud van Nistelrooy, Michel Salgado, Miguel Torres, Javi Garcia and Jordi Codina for various reasons, but Fabio Cannavaro returns for the trip to the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterraneos.

Almeria got off to a fine start this season, losing just one of the opening six matches under new coach Gonzalo Arconada.

Since then, however, the Andalusian side have lost two games in a row and were given a footballing lesson by Barcelona last weekend when the Catalan giants scored five times before half-time.

Almeria, who lost highly-rated striker Alvaro Negredo to a red card in that forgettable first half at the Nou Camp, managed to avoid further damage after the break and will hope to fare better in an equally tough fixture at home to Madrid.

Negredo said of Sunday's clash with his former club: "It's always an important and special game. Real Madrid are capable of destroying you at any given moment.

"We'll have to be alert and make as few mistakes as possible. We don't want them to feel comfortable," added the 23-year-old, who netted his side's second goal in last season's win over Madrid.