Ruud van Nistelrooy is keeping his fingers crossed that Real Madrid team-mate David Beckham will be fit to play in the club's final two games of the season.
Beckham suffered an ankle injury while on duty with England last night and he will spend the next 24-48 hours being assessed by the Madrid medical staff.
The injury puts a question mark against the former England captain's participation in this weekend's crucial match at Real Zaragoza, but van Nistelrooy is hopeful his former Manchester United cohort can make the match.
"I hope that he is well, David wants to play in the last two games he has remaining at Real Madrid and with his mentality I'm sure that he is going to play," said the Dutchman.
"Beckham has been very important to the end of the season run-in and he wants to win and leave with a title. It would be a dream for everyone."
Madrid go into Saturday's match with fifth-placed Zaragoza level on 72 points with Barcelona, but top of the table due to their better head-to-head record against the Catalan side this season.
Madrid know they can clinch their first Primera Liga title since 2003 this weekend if they beat Zaragoza, and Barca and third-placed Sevilla lose their matches against Espanyol and Real Mallorca, respectively.
If all of the top three win on Saturday, then the title race will go to the final weekend, when Madrid welcome Mallorca to the Bernabeu, Barca go to Gimnastic Tarragona, and Sevilla host Villarreal.
Van Nistelrooy believes the hunt for the championship will go to the wire.
"I think that Barca and Sevilla are going to win their games, they have games against Mallorca and Villarreal, and Espanyol and Nastic, and it is unlikely that that they will slip-up," he said.
"But we will also win and therefore the league will be ours."
Reports today suggested Madrid were hoping to bring van Nistelrooy's fellow Dutchman Arjen Robben to Spain this summer from Chelsea.
However, van Nistelrooy was not letting transfer speculation distract him from the task at hand.
"At this moment I am not thinking about signings, only one thing is going through my head - to win in Zaragoza," he said.
"We shall see in the summer which players will come, but not now."
The injury puts a question mark against the former England captain's participation in this weekend's crucial match at Real Zaragoza, but van Nistelrooy is hopeful his former Manchester United cohort can make the match.
"I hope that he is well, David wants to play in the last two games he has remaining at Real Madrid and with his mentality I'm sure that he is going to play," said the Dutchman.
"Beckham has been very important to the end of the season run-in and he wants to win and leave with a title. It would be a dream for everyone."
Madrid go into Saturday's match with fifth-placed Zaragoza level on 72 points with Barcelona, but top of the table due to their better head-to-head record against the Catalan side this season.
Madrid know they can clinch their first Primera Liga title since 2003 this weekend if they beat Zaragoza, and Barca and third-placed Sevilla lose their matches against Espanyol and Real Mallorca, respectively.
If all of the top three win on Saturday, then the title race will go to the final weekend, when Madrid welcome Mallorca to the Bernabeu, Barca go to Gimnastic Tarragona, and Sevilla host Villarreal.
Van Nistelrooy believes the hunt for the championship will go to the wire.
"I think that Barca and Sevilla are going to win their games, they have games against Mallorca and Villarreal, and Espanyol and Nastic, and it is unlikely that that they will slip-up," he said.
"But we will also win and therefore the league will be ours."
Reports today suggested Madrid were hoping to bring van Nistelrooy's fellow Dutchman Arjen Robben to Spain this summer from Chelsea.
However, van Nistelrooy was not letting transfer speculation distract him from the task at hand.
"At this moment I am not thinking about signings, only one thing is going through my head - to win in Zaragoza," he said.
"We shall see in the summer which players will come, but not now."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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