Portugal and Manchester United striker Christiano Ronaldo suffered a thigh injury during Portugal's knockout world cup match against Holland last night and is hopeful his recovery and return to fitness will happen before the crucial encounter against England.

"It is a special match because I play (against) England. I've been there for three years and I hope we can win," the player said. The entire Portuguese nation is anxiously waiting for news on Ronaldo's injury, who will be a major loss for Portugal if he gets ruled-out of the match.

"I've got a blue mark after the hit on my thigh. Let's see how it develops... The doctors will see on Monday."

Ronaldo's injury is a major headache for Portugal's coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, after the "butcher of Nuremberg", Russian referee Valentin Ivanov, handed 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards in one match. Deco and Costinha, who are critical for the Portuguese midfield, are suspended for the England match.

However, despite the suspensions, FIFA's president Sepp Blatter said that the referee forgot to give a yellow card to himself, hinting that some yellow cards may be disputed in the coming days.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | google | yahoo | technorati