Ronaldo’s speedy recovery points to him starting against Man City

The rumours being circulated about Cristiano Ronaldo being fit and available to face Manchester City in Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg seem more and more plausible with the passing of each day. While the Portugal international managed to take part in some of yesterday’s training, today he went one better by completing the entire session.

On discovering he couldn’t partake in the first leg at the Etihad, Ronaldo assured his team-mates that he would be able to play the return leg. However, despite the positive signs, Zinedine Zidane will have to wait until tomorrow’s final fitness test before making a decision on whether or not the ex-Manchester United forward can face Manuel Pellegrini’s Citizens.

Meanwhile, Karim Benzema trained alone on the Valdebebas turf, which makes it quite unlikely that he will be available for Wednesday’s crunch game. Additionally, Casemiro spent the day’s session working in the gym because of the knock he sustained against Real Sociedad on Saturday.