Woodgate injury compounds Real misery

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2006

MADRID (AFP) — Injury-prone Jonathan Woodgate received some small comfort when it emerged he had not torn his hamstring in Real Madrid's Champions League defeat to Arsenal at the Bernabeu.

The injury-prone England defender, kept out of the limelight for an entire year following his 2004 move from Newcastle, limped off after just nine minutes with his third injury of the season and Real were left to count the cost as Thierry Henry's solo effort left them facing an early exit.

Real discounted fears that the central defender would be out for a month or longer, saying he had not torn his hamstring but suffered a contraction, club doctor Alfonso Del Corral describing the diagnosis as "good news."

The club said Woodgate, who gave way Tuesday to Alvaro Mejia, would...