Real Madrid have been dealt a significant injury blow, with forward Gareth Bale been ruled out for up to three months, as he is set to undergo surgery on a ankle injury.
A big blow
Bale has been a key part of the Madrid, since his then world-record move from Tottenham back in 2013, with the 27-year-old managing 65 goals in 139 apperances so far.
The Welshmen pciked up an injury during Real's 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon, and it was confirmed that he had damaged his peroneal tendon, and will miss the El Clasico against Barcelona on December 3.
A club statement read: "The Real Madrid Sanitas Medical Services have decided that Gareth Bale will undergo an operation following the traumatic dislocation of the peroneal tendons of his right ankle."
It continued: "The operation will take place at King Edward VII Hospital in London on Tuesday 29th November by doctor James Calder, under the supervision of the club doctors Jesus Olmo and Mikel Aramberri."
Kept on playing
Despite Bale's injury, the Galatico's managed to secure their passage to the last 16 of the Champions League with a narrow win at the Estádio José Alvalade.
Raphael Varane opened the scoring in the first period, and it looked like a penalty from Adrien Silva's looked to have shared the points. However a late strike from Karim Benzema secured a win, and coach Zinedine Zidane praised his side in what he called a tough performance.
"We had some tough moments during the game," Zidane told realmadrid.com. "But that was to be expected because we mentioned yesterday about how it was going to be a difficult match."
"Sporting CP showed good intensity and we had some difficulties," he conceded. "The good thing is that we didn't give up after they got their goal."
Zidane concluded: "We kept on playing and scored a very good goal to win the game."
Real Madrid will take on Sporting Gijon at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday, November 26 with kick-off at 3:15pm BST.