Manuel Pellegrini believes Portugal's fraught World Cup Qualifying campaign will not affect Cristiano Ronaldo's club form.

Pellegrini has sought to alleviate some of the pressure on his star player after Jorge Valdano said on Thursday that the Portuguese winger would be feeling anxious about Portugal's World Cup fate.

Portugal are currently in third place in Group 1, five points behind leaders Denmark and two behind second placed Sweden with just two games to go.

Speaking to AS the Madrid coach claimed "It should not affect him.

"Although the international players come back with an emotional and physical burden, [Portugal] are a side that are fighting for qualification to the World Cup.

"They are not eliminated, so I don't think it will affect Cristiano's mood."

Ronaldo has made a quiet start to his Real Madrid career following his world record transfer from Premier League giants Manchester United in the summer - scoring from the spot in the team's opening day success against Deportivo La Coruna but generally being upstaged by the form of fellow Galactico's Kaka and Karim Benezma.

Pellegrini went on to say that the issue of fatigue amongst his international stars did not concern him due to los Blancos' strength in depth.