Cristiano Ronaldo hopes he can suit up for training with Real Madrid later this week as he strives to build his fitness before El Clasico.

Ronaldo has missed Real's last nine fixtures and was left out of Portugal's World Cup Qualifying play-offs recently with Bosnia-Herzegovina.

After steadily waiting for his injuries to recover, Ronaldo is close to returning to full contact training and reckons he can get back before the week is up.

"Let's see what happens, but around the middle of this week I am confident I will already be working with my team-mates," he told AS.

"This week I will have another test to see if I am fit, but the recovery is well on track."