LISBON, Portugal (Sporting Alert) — Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that star forward Cristiano Ronaldo will be fit to play for Real Madrid in Saturday’s Champions League final against Atletico Madrid.
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Ronaldo has been hampered by a series of muscular injuries over the past few weeks, which limited his practice time.
But manager Ancelotti insists the Portugal attacker “is fine” will be fit to start in Lisbon, although he remains hopeful over the availability of striker Karim Benzema and defender Pepe.
“Cristiano is fine and has no problem,” Ancelotti said.
“We have to check situation with Pepe and Karim because they have not trained this week and after training we have to take the decision for Saturday.”
In the meantime, Real Madrid will be without the suspended Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso.
Atletico Madrid will also be hoping star forward Diego Costa can play some part in the contest, as the Spanish forward is struggling with a hamstring problem.
“We’ll examine him but we have other injury doubts too,” said Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone.
Midfielder Arda Turan, who like Costa, was forced to leave in last Saturday’s Spanish La Liga decider against Barcelona because of an injury, will get a fitness test before the game.
“They trained better [on Thursday] so we’ll have to see how they train and feel and we’ll decide on that basis,”added Simeone.
If the pair aren’t able to play, Simeone says there will be others capable of covering.
“Arda and Costa are just names; they’re both very important players in the team, but there’s other players who can come in.
“We’re prepared for whatever happens.”
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