REAL Madrid stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have both returned to full training and are expected to be fit to face Villarreal today in La Liga.
Ronaldo and Bale, and centre-back Raphael Varane, have all sat out sessions for various precautionary reasons as Madrid enjoyed a rare midweek without any competitive games, but all three are likely to named by coach Carlo Ancelotti for the game against sixth-placed Villarreal.
Luka Modric, who is back training with this teammates after over four months out with a serious hamstring tear, could make his return in the fixture at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
On Thursday neither Bale nor Ronaldo played a full part in the daily session, with the Wales international working alone and the Portugal captain inside in the gym. However Friday’s post-training statement had happier news for Blancos fans.
“Gareth Bale took his place with the group and completed with the others a training session which was again based around working with the ball,” the statement reads. “The only absences from the session were Sergio Ramos, Sami Khedira and James Rodriguez, who continue with their recovery processes.”
The latter trio are definitely out of Sunday’s game, but Khedira — who has seen Schalke go public with their interest in signing him in the summer — could well return from his latest injury absence for the following Saturday’s trip to Athletic Bilbao, the Germany international has suggested via Instagram.
He said in his post: “Finally! The doctors have cleared me for team practice next week! That makes it a lot more fun for me to work with Paul and Lena on a photo shoot!”
Madrid midfielder James, who has been out since breaking a bone in his foot in the 2-1 La Liga win at home to Sevilla on Feb. 4, has also been on Instagram.
“Third week and the sensations are good,” James said. “Stronger than ever.”
Sources close to the Colombian international have told AS, however, that the 80 million euro summer signing is still about six weeks away from full fitness, with the mid-April Champions League quarterfinal second leg being his current target for a return.
Sergio Ramos is the other big name Madrid player currently injured, having torn a hamstring in that recent game against his former club Sevilla. Ramos is expected back in a few weeks’ time, and showed some unorthodox training methods involving a trampoline recently via Instagram.