Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will miss the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona on Wednesday night. The forward has been suffering from a few injury problems the last few weeks. He had already missed the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund. After missing the match against Almeria during the weekend, it was expected that Ronaldo returned to the starting line-up against Barcelona.

After losing the El Clasico 4-3 earlier in the season, this is a great opportunity for Real Madrid to put more pressure on Barcelona, who come into the match on the back of two consecutive defeats. The Catalan club have slipped three points behind Real Madrid in the table and Carlo Ancelotti’s men could inflict yet another defeat that could end their season. Barcelona can be left with only two titles this season – the Copa del Rey and the league title. However, their defence of the league title is not in a good shape after the 1-0 defeat against Granada.

Ronaldo, who is the club’s top scorer and also the current holder of the FIFA Ballon d’Or award, will not be participating in the match according to club manager Ancelotti, who will be now relying upon the likes of Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale for the goals.
“Cristiano is not available because we do not want to take risks with him. The tests conducted on Cristiano Ronaldo have detected a muscular injury to his left hamstring. This is pending developments. Cristiano did not rest because there was no need. There was no situation we saw that suggested he was tired and if he had been tired he would not have played. He has a problem that many players have at this stage of the season,” said Ancelotti.