Cristiano Ronaldo has been declared 100% fit and able to play against Barcelona on Saturday, allaying fears that he would miss El Clasico. The Real Madrid superstar picked up a knock during last weekend’s Club World Cup final against Gremio. Ronaldo sustained a calf injury early in the game but decided to carry on and his decision paid off, as he fired home a free-kick to win the match and help Real to lift the trophy.
Little was made of the potential injury until Ronaldo missed Tuesday’s training session. Then when he was absent again on Wednesday morning, there were fears that he would be unable to feature at the Bernabeu on Saturday. It was all smiles on Friday, as CR7 took part in the team training session. Zinedine Zidane confirmed that all is well and explained that his earlier absences were merely precautionary.
“He is fine, he’s 100%. He has trained today.”
The French tactician also used his press conference to ask for focus from his players. Asking them specifically to forget about the lead that Barcelona currently hold in the La Liga title race and concentrate on winning the match.
“We have to think about playing a good match, not if we are 11, or eight, or 25 points behind. We are going to have to play a good match against a very good rival.”
As things stand, Barcelona hold an eleven point advantage over Real Madrid. Los Blancos do have a game in hand, so could effectively cut the deficit to a theoretical five points, if things go their way in El Clasico. The alternative isn’t even worth thinking about for Madridistas. The match kicks off at 12pm UK time and will be watched by a global audience.
