Cristiano Ronaldo Injury: Updates on Real Madrid Star's Ankle and Return

Updates from Sunday, Oct. 5

AS confirmed Cristiano Ronaldo's inclusion in Real Madrid's starting lineup:

Updates from Saturday, Oct. 4  

Real Madrid provide an update on Cristiano Ronaldo's status from Carlo Ancelotti:

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All the players are in good shape and have recovered. The team is improving physically. Cristiano is in very good shape, he has fully recovered and is firing on all cylinders.

 

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Updates from Friday, Oct. 3

Cristiano Ronaldo has been called up by Portugal for their forthcoming international commitments, despite concerns over his ankle injury.

Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC passed on the news:

Ronaldo failed to train with the rest of his team-mates on Thursday, leaving him facing a fitness race ahead of Sunday's clash with Athletic Bilbao.

Ruben Jimenez of Marca reports:

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The Portuguese did not train yesterday with the rest of his teammates after limping off towards the end of the game against Ludogorets. The Real Madrid forward's left Achilles tendon still hurts after he was tackled somewhat ruthlessly towards the end of the game and he is still waiting to see how he recovers from the knock.

He turned up at Valdebebas on Thursday to train in the gym in an attempt to be fully fit - with just two training sessions to go - in time for Sunday's game against Athletic de Bilbao.

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Cristiano Ronaldo is mortal after all. The Real Madrid star suffered an ankle injury against Ludogorets during Wednesday's Champions League victory and faces a race against time to be 100 percent fit for the clash with Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

Los Blancos boss Carlo Ancelotti confirmed the problem and played down its seriousness, per Marca: "He picked up a knock to his ankle. He's in pain, but it doesn't look serious at first glance."

Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC provided a little more detail:

Ronaldo's importance to Ancelotti's cause has been evident from the start of the campaign. It's little coincidence that the 4-2 loss to Real Sociedad in Week 2 of the La Liga season also saw the star miss out through injury.

Madrid could now face further tests without their talisman during a season in which the player wishes to excel like never before, per beIN Sports:

Those intentions may be stunted by this latest setback, however, which could test the depth of Real's resources and just how well their new faces are gelling with the squad.

Once thought to be almost indestructible, the Portuguese winger has dealt with a few different medical scares over the last year. In November 2013, he hurt his thigh against Almeria. In April, Real announced that he had an injury to his left bicep.

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

The biggest scare, however, was related to his knee injury just prior to the 2014 World Cup. Although Ronaldo appeared in all three of Portugal's group-stage matches, he was clearly a step or two off his best and scored just one goal.

According to WhoScored.com, his 30 league appearances last season were the fewest since he arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2009.

All of those small problems by no means make Ronaldo injury-prone, but they stand out for a player who's remained at such a consistently high level of fitness for years.

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It will be interesting to see how Madrid perform without him. No player remains more important to the club than Ronaldo, but with the summer additions of James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos, Los Merengues have grown exceedingly lethal in attack. But they continue to rely on a player who has already scored 12 goals across the domestic and the European club campaign.

Real Madrid are looking to become the first side to ever defend the Champions League title, while also attempting to knock crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid off their La Liga perch.

Those goals aren't impossible without Ronaldo, but they're certainly much harder to pull off.