Cristiano Ronaldo's Injury Will Force Teammates to Step Up for Real Madrid

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo will miss this weekend's league fixture with Real Valladolid and has been given an expected recovery time of two weeks by manager Carlo Ancelotti following his recent hamstring strain.

Ronaldo, who is considered among the favourites for this year's Ballon d'Or, has been in astonishing form, scoring 17 goals in 14 league games this season, as well as eight in four in the Champions League.

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.@MrAncelotti: "@Cristiano won't be available for tomorrow's game because he doesn't feel comfortable yet." #RMLive

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) November 29, 2013"

However, per Reuters via the Guardian, Ancelotti has now confirmed he will be given the next fortnight to recover:

"

No, Cristiano won't play because he is not comfortable and doesn't feel good.

We did a scan this morning and while the muscle is completely healed he is not comfortable and hasn't trained much, so we are not going to take the risk.

He has 15 days to work and prepare well for the next league match [at Osasuna on 14 December].

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Ronaldo's injury, then, will mean that the Italian is forced to continue handing opportunities to some of the club's other forward options over the next three games prior to the Osasuna fixture.

Gareth Bale, of course, will be expected to pick up much of the slack. After an injury-affected opening to his career at the club, the former Tottenham man has sprung to life in recent weeks with five goals and five assists in his past six fixtures in all competitions.

Given his similarity in style to the Portuguese star, he will be the man that Real continue to look to in Ronaldo's absence.

However, it is youngsters Jese and Alvaro Morata who have the most to gain from the main man's absence. Both Spain Under-21 stars have shown glimpses of their potential this campaign, but have managed just one start apiece in all competitions.

With the chance of increased minutes in the next fortnight, they must continue to show more of the quality present in victory over Almeria last weekend—where Morata got himself on the scoresheet and Jese provided two assists.

With Karim Benzema, Bale, Angel Di Maria and Isco all vying for spots, it certainly wont be easy. Yet the Copa del Rey clash with Olimpic de Xativa, in particular, should be a great opportunity to stake a claim for regular starts.

With Benzema not always a favourite of the Bernabeu fans, Morata has perhaps the best shot of earning increased playing time.

The youngster is a good finisher and an intelligent player around the penalty area who often finds himself in good positions in front of goal. Perhaps, then, he can prove a better foil to the more prodigious talents behind than the Frenchman.

Jese, meanwhile, can be as precocious as anyone and is blessed with supreme talent. A tally of 22 goals in the Segunda Division last season, per Soccerway, served notice of his ability, but he needs minutes at the top level.

His cameo appearances thus far have been strong, but he must do more in the absence of Ronaldo to really push his claims for a spot. Jese may feel hard done-by to find chances so limited, but the only way to respond is with even better on-pitch performances.

Real Madrid have three eminently winnable fixtures coming up and plenty of depth to their squad to deal with their star man's injury. What Ancelotti will hope to see, though, is one of his young talents use the brief opening as an opportunity to really announce their arrival at first-team level.

Such decisive contributions at the right time can ultimately be the difference between long-term success and failure as a Real Madrid player.