Cristiano Ronaldo Injury Fears Eased By Zidane After El Clasico Draw

Cristiano Ronaldo gave a major scare to Real Madrid during the El Clasico against Barcelona, which they drew 2-2, on Sunday when he went down with an ankle injury in the first-half.

The Portugal international leveled the scores in the 14th minute after Luis Suarez had given the Catalan club the lead, but picked up the knock while netting the goal. He had to be attended to late in the first-half after which manager Zinedine Zidane made the decision to replace him at the interval.

Ronaldo was replaced by Marco Asensio after half-time with the scores level, but Barcelona went down to 10-men after Sergi Roberto received his marching orders after picking up a straight red for hitting out at Real left-back Marcelo.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s injury was concerning for the Spanish capital club as they face Liverpool in the final of the Champions League on May 26. Real are looking to win Europe’s elite club competition for the third consecutive year.

Zidane was not willing to take any risk and replaced Ronaldo at half-time. The French coach, however, was not too concerned about the injury suggesting that it was just a minor knock which will be cleared before the Champions League final.

“We will look tomorrow [Monday] and see what damage has been done,” Zidane said after the game on Sunday, as quoted on goal.com. “ Right now it's not good, but it's going to be minor. He seemed to think it wasn't much. It's not a worry for the Champions League final."

The Spanish club, who are battling city rivals Atletico Madrid for second place in the La Liga table, have three more games left to play in the league. They can finish above Diego Simeone’s side if they win all their games, but it remains to be seen if Zidane will risk Ronaldo ahead of the Champions League final, which is just six days after the end of the La Liga season ends.

Meanwhile, Barcelona continued their unbeaten streak, which has seen them go undefeated in the league thus far. They have three more games to play before the end of the campaign and Zidane believes they could go the entire campaign undefeated.

He was also happy with the intensity of the game and feels it was a game football that would have been enjoyable to the neutrals. And despite wanting all three points, he believes there was nothing to choose between the two teams on the night — they were evenly matched to share the spoils.

“In the end it is a draw, and in the end it looks like Barca will end the season unbeaten," Zidane said, as quoted by ESPN. "I would have liked to win, although it was a good game for the fans, there was nothing in play between Barca and Madrid today, but we saw a good game with intensity, with goals, from both teams.”

"Everyone who likes football can be happy with a game like that. Always the football is more important than the 'controversies' people want to make,” the French coach added.