Cristiano Ronaldo raring to go

Posted Thursday, September 11, 2014 by Marca.com

Cristiano Ronaldo increased his training workload just three days ahead of the derby and was rigidly put through his paces at the Real Madrid training ground, where Carlo Ancelotti was happy to see players such as Sergio Ramos report back after international duty.

Luka Modric and Gareth Bale also returned after their goalscoring exploits earlier in the week. Both former Tottenham players had a recovery session and will join up with the rest of the group as normal on Thursday.

Cristiano Ronaldo trained with great intensity both on Tuesday and Wednesday demonstrating that he is in fine fettle and has made a full recovery from the muscle troubles that ruled him out of the league match in San Sebastián against Real Sociedad ten weeks ago.

It was an unfamiliar day for Sergio Ramos at Valdebebas. After featuring in two matches for Spain, the defender had a break involving recovery work before joining up with a group including four players from the Real Madrid Under-18s team.

The menu of the day comprised initial fitness drills for outfield players while first-team goalkeepers Iker Casillas and Keylor Navas trained alone with Fernando Pacheco, whom had just returned from U-21 duty with Spain. All available players were later put into a small-sided match to end the session.