Match against Racing Santander may be the last one without Cristiano Ronaldo

Real Madrid will battle Racing Santander on Saturday and some media in Spain report that this could be the last game that Cristiano Ronaldo will miss in his recovery process.

Even when it was made public that his injuried ankle was not improving, Ronaldo might return to full training on Friday, so the talented footbalelr is unlikely to be available before Wednesday's Champions League game against FC Zurich.

After some medical tests, Professor Niek van Dijk - the surgeon who operated on Ronaldo's right ankle in the summer of 2008 - was also consulted by the troubled ankle in Amsterdam a fortnight ago. However, the club did not announce when Cristiano will be fit for his return.

Madrid has a week full of chances to recover morale and points, after being eliminated from the "Copa del Rey" by a third-division team.

Portugal defeated Bosnia and secured a place in South Africa 2010

Portugal could not use Cristiano Ronaldo but their 0-1 win over Bosnia was enough to get the ticekt to South Africa 2010. With Real Madrid's super star sidelined by injury, credit for reaching a third consecutive World Cup went to gutsy performances by a Portuguese squad that used even some Brazilian-born footballers.

The talented midfielders Tiago and Meireles had an important role in this victory. In fact, Meireles was the author of the winning goal, scoring at the 55 minute after a superb move by Tiago and Nani.

Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz showed his satisfaction after the games: "Our team spirit has been fantastic, brilliant. This win brought vindication after months of criticism and unflattering comparisons. This was the dream of a lifetime".

Raul Meireles had the time of his life: "I am really satisfied with the goal, but I think the most important thing was our national team and the attitude we showed on a very difficult field, the state of the pitch was terrible and our team was able to overcome that".

Latest News: Ronaldo's ankle not improving

The latest announcement regarding Cristiano Ronaldo's ankle are bad news for millions of Real Madrid fans and for everybody in Portugal. The player may be three months out of activity if he is forced to have another operation on his injured ankle. His club stated that ronaldo has not showed enough improvement to return for this weekend game.

The official announcement says that it's not clear if Cristiano Ronaldo requires surgery on his troublesome ankle, but he is not fit for a return to first team action.

Teammate Iker Casillas mentioned that Cristiano is "concerned" about his ankle. "He thought he would recover this week, and play some minutes against Atletico. But that will not happen."

We must consider that it is the same ankle that needed an operation in the summer of 2008 At that moment, Cristiano was at the Old Trafford.

Pellegrini's team has won every game they played with Cristiano in the squad, but lost against lowly Alcorcón in the Cup and AC Milan at home in the Champions League in his absence.

Cristiano Ronaldo's return could take place against Atletico Madrid

Doctors say that Cristiano Ronaldo has real chances to return to the first team against Atletico Madrid.

The Portuguese super player was at the Sanitas La Moreja clinic today to go under an MRI scan on his injured ankle, and the initial prognosis is positive. It has also been revealed that Cristiano has been performing gym excercises and swimming at Real Madrid's training base at Valdebebas for seven and a half hours a day in an effort to recover his fitness as soon as possible.

As we know, his injury was picked up during Madrid's Champions League match against Olympique Marseille at the end of September, and then aggravated while he was on international duty with Portugal.

After this announcement, Madrid's coach Manuel Pellegrini will continue to monitor Ronaldo's progress closely. However, it's important to mention that he will not risk him on Saturday evening against Atletico Madrid if Ronaldo is not completely recovered and out of risk.

Real Madrid got a 1-1 with AC Milan

Critiano Ronaldo is still out of Real Madrid firts squad due to his serious injury, but life goes on for his team. After the disaster against Alcorcón, Pellegrini's side needed to recover. And this Champions League game against Ronaldinho's AC Milan was not exactly the easiest way to do it.

But Madrid got a remarkable 1-1 at the San Siro Stadium, which is a good result considering the strong squad that Milan used on the field. Karim Benzema scored for the spaniards at the minute 29 and Ronnie netted the equalizer with a penalty shot on 39'.

Now Pellegrini got some more credit to stay as the coach of the galactic team. We all hope that with the return of Cristiano and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, the team will be even stronger and reach the goals settled for this season.

Barcelona wins the Champions League and frustrates Ronaldo's dream

This time the crown was not meant to be earned by United. With a 2-0 triumph at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Wednesday, Barcelona have now won their third UEFA Champions League Championship, and have become the first Spanish team to win La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League all in the same season, which allowed Barcelona to become the first Spanish team to win the treble, and the first team since the Red Devils in 1999 to accomplish this feat in Europe.

To start off the match, rookie manager Josep Guardiola had to replace the suspended defenders Daniel Alves and Eric Abidal, so he replaced them with Sylvinho and Carles Puyol. He also started both Thierry Henry and Stamford Bridge hero Andrés Iniesta after they were declared fit after a training session on Monday.

After all of the pregame festivities were finished, the match begun and Man Utd sprinted out of the gate as they have done in most of their matches this season, and nearly scored on a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick in the second minute, but keeper Victor Valdes was equal to the challenge and was able to stop it.

After several more United chances, Barcelona got the ball into the United zone as Iniesta rushed towards the goal, and passed the ball off to Samuel Eto'o, who then collapsed onto the net and shot the ball off of Edwin Van de Sar and into the back of the net which shocked Man Utd, and gave Barcelona a 1-0 lead in the tenth minute.

After this goal, Barcelona completely dominated the rest of the first half as they prevented United from starting any attack, and Park Ji-Sung, Ryan Giggs and Anderson all appeared to disappear for United, which made a comeback even less likely.

However, Barcelon continued to attack, but the United defense came to the rescue multiple times as they denied Barcelona from getting another goal.

As the second half begun, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson substituted Anderson for Carlos Tevez to try to inspire the offense, and for the first five minutes, it appeared to be working but Barcelona came back and after Iniesta was fouled just outside of the penalty box in the 62nd minute. Afterwards, Xavi had a chance to give Barcelona a 2-0 lead, but his shot hit the outside of the post on his right, keeping the match 1-0 and allowing Man Utd to still have a chance in the match.

But the chance of repeating as European champions vanished for Man Utd in the 70th minute as Xavi nailed a cross that found the head of Lionel Messi as the 21-year-old Argentinian international superstar scored his 38th goal of the season and gave Barcelona a cushion as they now held a 2-0 lead.

For the last 20 minutes, Man Utd couldn't regain possession against Barcelona and with the final whistle in stoppage time, Barcelona won their second Champions League final in the last four seasons and finally accomplished their dream of a treble.

Ancelotti impressed by Ronaldo and Manchester United's Champions League performance

AC Milan coach had interesting words after the 0-0 draw between Inter and Manchester United. Carlo Ancelotti admitted that he was impressed with what he saw in the game between the Nerazzurri and Manchester United.

"Inter can take courage from the draw,” Ancelotti stated to the press. “I watched a beautiful match, dominated by the English in the first half and Inter in the second period."

He also said that Cristiano Ronaldo always shows a World Class performance.

However, Ancelotti still was disappointed with the result of the recent Milan derby, in which Inter were 2-1 winners. In that fixture Nerazzurri forward Adriano opened the scoring with a controversial goal but the Rossoneri netted a goal against Cagliari on Sunday in similar circumstances.

"My thoughts remain the same, Adriano netted with his arm," complained the ex-Parma tactician.

Indeed, Milan are currently preparing for their second-leg encounter against Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup on Thursday. The first-leg ended in a 1-1 draw.