Occupational hazards

Cristiano Ronaldo took to the training pitch at Valdebebas on Tuesday morning, together with the rest of his teammates. After some brief limbering up, he started the warm-up under the instructions of Rui Faria. However, during a seemingly innocuous short sprint, Ronaldo peeled off from the group and hobbled towards the bench, where he eased himself down. A teammate gently tapped one of the Portuguese's sore areas with his foot.
Ronaldo lifted up his sock to allow the club doctors to see to the wound. At this stage of the season, the battle scars are numerous and CR7 has certainly earned his stripes. The Portuguese has a further two bruises just above his right tibia, below the knee: one of the chinks in the shin pad armour.
CR7 takes no chances during matches. He wears special strapping on his ankles and has also been using thigh straps over the last two weeks, following the muscle strain he sustained against Dortmund.
Nevertheless, the Portuguese star is running on empty down the home straight. His latest injury, which hampered him throughout the Champions League semi-finals, helped quash Real Madrid's chances of winning 'La Décima'.
Now the goalscoring sensation's mission is to be as fit as possible for the Spanish Cup final. As he himself explained after the second leg against Borussia, he was mentally 100% to face Dortmund, but that wasn't enough for him to deliver the goods when the team needed him most.