"If Cristiano pushes himself, he risks missing Euro 2016"

Cristiano Ronaldo’s hamstring continues to worry Real Madrid. The Portuguese striker missed the Liga game against Rayo, the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Manchester City and Saturday’s win against Real Sociedad at Anoeta.

The question is whether he’ll be fit for the Champions League game on Wednesday against Manchester City at the Bernabéu. The good news: he trained on Sunday morning at the Real Madrid training grounds at Valdebebas. The bad news: the club have given no information since the original medical report that spoke of a “thigh strain”, but the latest information points to a 1.5cm long micro-tear in Ronaldo’s hamstring.

The former Portuguese team doctor Nuno Campos spoke to newspaper Record: “If the diagnosis truly is a micro-tear the recovery period is 18 to 21 days. It’s 12 to 14 to heal and 5 to 7 to recover muscle tone”. If that’s the case then Ronaldo shouldn’t be looking at coming back until 10 May: missing the City game and the Liga match against Valencia.

Dr Campos says that in the case of a simple strain Ronaldo would likely be fit for the City match, but fears the player is dealing with the suspected micro-tear. “If he plays with that he is risking aggravating the injury and putting in danger his participation in the European Championships”.

That said, Dr Campos, who knows the Portuguese player’s physique well, says he would never rule out a “miraculous” recovery in the case of Ronaldo. “Cristiano can do things that aren’t normal, but this is a physiological question. He’ll struggle to be fit before 20 or 21 days have passed. Stem cell treatment, that people have said he’s had, would speed up recovery by a few days, but only a few. It’s going to be difficult.”