The Italian has denied that the prolific attacker is being plagued by physical problems and is not too worried about his side’s recent defeats
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has insisted that Cristiano Ronaldo does not have a knee injury ahead of Saturday’s La Liga encounter with Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The Portugal international, 29, was rested for his side’s 2-0 Copa del Rey defeat against city-rivals Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, leading to speculation that he was being plagued by physical problems once more.
Nevertheless, Ancelotti has stressed there’s no truth in such rumours, before adding that the prolific attacker will feature from the start against Espanyol.
“Ronaldo does not have any knee problems,” Ancelotti insisted at a press conference.
“Ronaldo is one of the most professional players I have ever coached. He is very serious about recovery.
“He will return to the starting XI against Espanyol.”
Ancelotti then went on to admit that Madrid are not yet at the same level as they were toward the end of 2014, but he made it clear he’s not too worried about his side’s defeats against Valencia and Atletico.
“We have not reached the same level as toward the end of last year yet, but the data show that we’re in fine shape physically,” he added.
“We are not in ideal shape mentally, but that’s only normal.
“There were a lot more doubts back in September when we lost two games in a row.”
The Madrid coach also had his say on the potential signings of Norwegian wonderkid Martin Odegaard and Brazilian midfielder Lucas Silva and stated that no final decisions have been made yet.
“Odegaard clearly has a great future ahead of him. He is very young, but has a lot of quality. He has been training with us because we wanted to meet him in person. But we have not taken a decision yet.
“Lucas Silva? For the moment we don’t need more players.”