Cristiano Ronaldo out for three weeks
Real Madrid and Portugal have suffered a major blow with the news that Cristiano Ronaldo will be out of action for around three weeks.
The winger sustained bruising to his right ankle in Madrid’s goalless draw in the first match of the new La Liga campaign away to Real Mallorca yesterday.
A statement on Madrid’s official website today said that: “After a physical examination and a magnetic resonance made to Cristiano Ronaldo, Sanitas La Moraleja Hospital confirms a bone contusion on his internal malleolus and `os tibiale` on his right ankle with a posttraumatic edema. The Real Madrid player is not going to be able to play for approximately three weeks.”
If that timeline is accurate, the injury means Ronaldo will miss Real's league clash against Osasuna and their first UEFA Champions League group stage match against Ajax.
It also means that the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year will miss out on Portugal’s UEFA 2012 European Football Championship qualifying matches at home to Cyprus and away to Norway.
Ronaldo moved to the La Liga giants in the summer of 2009 from Manchester United for a world record fee of £80m. He is the highest-paid footballer in the world with annual wages of around 11 million euros per year while his contract has a buyout clause of one billion euros. In 36 matches so far at Madrid, he has scored 33 goals.
He has so far failed to win any trophies with Madrid, but established himself as one of the best players in the world at United. During his time in England, he picked up three English Premier League winners’ medals, won the FA Cup in 2004, two League Cups, the FA Community Shield, the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup. In 292 appearances with the Red Devils, he scored 118 times.
Tags: