Cristiano Ronaldo injured his ankle while scoring Real Madrid’s first goal in Sunday’s 2-2 Clasico draw with Barcelona.
Ronaldo exited at halftime, and was quickly diagnosed with a slightly sprained ankle.
“It’s a small thing,” Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane said after the game. “He is a bit worried, right now the ankle is a bit swollen, but he said it is not so bad.”
Zidane, most importantly, said the injury should not affect Ronaldo’s participation in the Champions League final on May 26.
In the 14th minute of Sunday’s game, Ronaldo charged onto the end of Karim Benzema’s knock-down header, and as he knocked it into the net, his right ankle bent awkwardly:
GOOOOOOAL!!!@realmadriden restore parity with a beautifully worked move. @Cristiano with the finish. 1-1. #beINElClasico pic.twitter.com/AgdUMwy4oA
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) May 6, 2018
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique slid with Ronaldo in an attempt to clear. Ronaldo got to the ball, but also picked up the injury:
The Real Madrid star received treatment on the field immediately after the goal. After a few minutes of limping around, he stayed in the game for the rest of the first half. He looked relatively fine, and had two big opportunities to put Real Madrid up 2-1.
But he was subbed off at halftime, with Marco Asensio replacing him.
The substitution sounds to have been precautionary. El Clasico didn’t mean much for Real Madrid. The Champions League final>, in 20 days, obviously does. And Ronaldo has theWorld Cup> coming up next month. It would be very surprising to see Ronaldo miss either.
But still, Real Madrid fans and the entire nation of Portugal will be holding their collective breaths.
what do you think will become of Ronaldo?
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