El Clasico aftermath: Ronaldo tells Zidane his injury 'nothing serious'

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo (left) is helped off the field after suffering an injury during the El Classico on Sunday. Pic/AFP

Zinedine Zidane refused to put a time frame on Cristiano Ronaldo's injury absence after the forward had to be substituted at half-time in an entertaining 2-2 draw against Barcelona. Ronaldo had cancelled out Luis Suarez's opener for the unbeaten La Liga champions, but picked up an ankle knock while tapping in Karim Benzema's header back across goal from Toni Kroos' cross.

'Too early to speculate'
With the Champions League final against Liverpool three weeks away, Zidane insisted it was too early to speculate about the extent of the injury. "I don't know how long he'll be out," the Frenchman said. "He said it wasn't much, but we'll see. We'll do some tests to see the extent of the damage done to his ankle. He was a little worried because it was a bit swollen, but he said that it's nothing serious."

Zinedine Zidane

Barca had Sergi Roberto sent off in first-half stoppage-time following a clash with Marcelo, but regained the lead through Lionel Messi seven minutes after the interval. Gareth Bale then curled home a first-time effort with 18 minutes remaining to leave Real three points behind city rivals Atletico in the race for second. "I'd have liked to have won," added Zidane. "There was nothing at stake but it was a good Clasico - high intensity and chances. They played well and so did we.

"Everyone who likes football can be happy with a game like that. Football is always more important than the controversy that you want to create. We had a good opportunity to win today, clearly, we had a lot of chances to score, especially in the first half. In the end it was a draw and that's that. There are two games left and, in the end, Barcelona will finish the season unbeaten."

Barca confirm Antoine talks
Meanwhile, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has admitted he met with representatives of Atletico's Antoine Griezmann in October. Barca were forced to deny in January they had already agreed a deal to sign the Frenchman. "We had conversations with his representative, as we have with other representatives," Bartomeu said. "This was last October, a meeting, nothing more. It should not give rise to speculation."

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No. of goals Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in El Clasicos to equal the great Alfredo Di Stefano

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