Ronaldo close to Madrid return

Cristiano Ronaldo has vowed to return to the Real Madrid starting lineup soon and has stepped up training at the club’s Valdebebas training base.

The Portuguese has had a busy year, helping Madrid lift the Champions League trophy before captaining his country to the Euro 2016 title in France last month.

He has been on holiday since, and made a late return to training, missing Madrid`s 3-0 victory over Real Sociedad in La liga’s opening weekend.

Ronaldo, 31, is on course to be in Zinedine Zidane’s team for Saturday’s game against Celta Vigo at the Santiago Bernabeu, and his Instagram post on Wednesday justified his claims.

‘Looking good. Soon I will be back,’ he wrote on Instagram, with a video of him performing running drills.