Real Madrid's Ronaldo ruled out for 10-15 days

MADRID (Reuters) -- Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo will be out of action for 10-15 days after he injured a leg muscle in Thursday's 7-0 win over Malaga, the Spanish club said on on Friday. The Portuguese international, joint top scorer in La Liga with Barcelona's Lionel Messi on 27 goals following his hat-trick against the Andalusian club, had a scan on Friday which confirmed the injury, Real said on their website (www.realmadrid.com).

Ronaldo will miss Sunday's La Liga game at Racing Santander and could be sidelined for the home match against Hercules on March 12 and the Champions League last-16, second leg against Olympique Lyon four days later.

Ronaldo, who became the world's most expensive player when he joined Real from Manchester United in 2009, has been spearheading Real's bid this season to end Barca's two-year reign as Spanish champions.

The club's next highest scorer in the league is Gonzalo Higuain with seven goals and the Argentina forward has not played since late last year due to a back injury.

Ronaldo, whose treble against Malaga ended a four-game goal drought, told reporters after the match he had hurt his leg when scoring his third in the 77th minute.