Zinedine Zidane was unable to say how long Cristiano Ronaldo will be out of action following an ankle injury suffered in the 2-2 draw against Barcelona on Sunday.
The Portuguese star hurt his ankle when equalising Luis Suarez’ opener early in the 14th minute. He managed to struggle through remainder of the first half before being substituted for the second period.
Zidane was quoted on the club’s official website: “I don’t know how long he’ll be out,” he said.
“He said it wasn’t much, but we’ll see tomorrow.
“We’ll do some tests to see the extent of the damage done to his ankle. He was a little worried because it was a bit swollen, but he said that it’s nothing serious.”
Reports from Spain confirm the player’s assessment and Ronaldo is expected to join his team mates in training later this week. It’s unlikely that he’ll travel to Sevilla for Wednesday’s game in La Liga and may not be risked in the final two league matches, at home to Celta Vigo on Saturday and away to Villarreal on Sunday 20 May.
Ronaldo has two weeks to get fully fit before heading to Ukraine for the Champions League final against Liverpool in Kiev on May 26.
It was an intense Clasico which saw Real twice come from behind and Barcelona reduced to ten men following Sergio Roberto’s dismissal on the stroke of half time.
Suarez had opened the scoring after ten minutes before Ronaldo equalised four minutes later. Barcelona regained the lead through Lionel Messi seven minutes after the break and then Gareth Bale curled home a first time effort to conclude the scoring with 18 minutes remaining.
Speaking after the game Zidane said: “I’d have liked to have won. There was nothing at stake but it was a good Clasico – high intensity and chances. They played well and so did we.
“Everyone who likes football can be happy with a game like that. Football is always more important than the controversy that you want to create.
“We had a good opportunity to win today, clearly, we had a lot of chances to score, especially in the first half. In the end it was a draw and that’s that. There are two games left and, in the end, Barcelona will finish the season unbeaten.”
The result left Real three points behind city rivals Atletico Madrid but as Zidane’s post match comments infer, priorities at the Bernabeu lie elsewhere.
