AS reports the injury, which kept Ronaldo out of the first leg goalless draw on Tuesday, was diagnosed when the forward went to a clinic in Madrid, having “tired” of Madrid’s medical department.
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City did not trouble Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas until a Kevin De Bruyne stoppage-time free-kick, yet Pellegrini said his side would show a greater cutting edge next week in Spain.
A trip to Real Sociedad is on the agenda this Saturday for Zinedine Zidane’s side.
“But, when we are away, we play very similar to the way we do at home and this season we have already had very good results playing away at Sevilla, Dynamo Kiev and Paris St-German”.
“If it was a final, I would have played”, Ronaldo reportedly told Spanish radio after the teamsheet confirmed Real fears, insisting the decision to leave him on the sidelines was merely precautionary. “We didn’t concede any chances except from two set-pieces, other than that we defended well and at this stage that’s what gives you confidence – the fact that you don’t crumble”. We pressed high and we controlled the ball very well, but we were not very creative.
Zidane said he was unsure if Ronaldo and Benzema, who have scored 74 goals between them this season, will be fit for the second leg. “We have to take it day by day”, the Frenchman said.
Ronaldo had been rated as 100% by Zizou at his pre-match Press conference but didn’t even make the bench while Karim Benzema, also said by the Coach to be fully fit, had to go off at half time. In the sense of the chances we created in the second half I’m perhaps a little bit disappointed.
“We tried to change our game and it was impossible, so we need to play on Sunday”.
“A 0-0 draw is an uncomfortable result for the team at home in the second leg”, he added. We are at home now, and we know what we are capable of at home, but it’s still 50/50 and it will be until the death. “We know it’ll be a hard game, but we will be going all out to try and win it”.
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“I think it will be another evenly contested game and a very hard one”.
