Ronaldo left out of Real squad to play AEK Athens

The anxiously-awaited debut of Real Madrid's new signing Ronaldo remains on hold after the Brazilian striker was not included in the squad to play AEK Athens in Wednesday's Champions League group C match.

The 26-year-old, who moved to Real from Inter Milan for 45 million euros ($44.38 million) at the end of last month, trained with the rest of the team on Monday after shaking off a minor ankle injury but was not deemed fit enough to make the trip to Athens.

Ronaldo, who was top scorer for Brazil during their triumphant World Cup campaign, has yet to make an appearance for his new side and may now make his debut in next weekend's league match against Alaves.

The player insists that he has now got over the injury and will be back in action in the near future.

"I no longer feel any pain at all," he was quoted as saying by sports daily Marca on Monday. "It was not an important injury and I will be playing very soon."

Skipper Fernando Hierro is being rested and has also been left out of the squad, as has goalkeeper Cesar who is nursing a bruised finger.

But fellow central defender Ivan Helguera has recovered from a blow to his hip and will make the trip to the Greek capital.

The European champions have made a perfect start to the defence of their title, taking a maximum six points from their first two matches.

They claimed an impressive 3-0 victory away to Roma in their opening match and then crushed Belgian champions Genk 6-0 at the Bernabeu last week.