Injuries could destroy Cristiano Ronaldo's career, according to Barcelona legend Hristo Stoichkov, who spoke of his concerns for the Real Madrid ace.

Ronaldo, 24, is currently facing his third week on the sidelines after he aggravated an ankle injury in Portugal's crunch World Cup qualifier against Hungary last month.

CR9 first picked up the injury during Los Blancos' UEFA Champions League clash at home to Marseille in late September ,and Stoichkov believes that the current FIFA World Player may have to start getting use to more spells on the treatment table whilst in Spain.

"He (Ronaldo) is a great player like Luis Figo was in his day, who scored goals before he went there and then when he was with Madrid," the Bulgarian told Spanish sports journal Marca.

"But injuries can kill your game. In England things are nobler, they go for the ball more. In Spain everything is different and you can pay for that," he warned.

Stoichkov's musings are in contrast to Ronaldo's otherwise impeccable injury record to date, as can be highlighted in the fact that he made no fewer than 102 appearances for Manchester United in the last two seasons alone, testament to his bullet-proof nature.

Meanwhile, Stoichkov also fired a word of warning to the Galaticos hierarchy by echoing Johan Cruyff's suggestions that coaches are not in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu.

"We will have to see what happens with Pellegrini. Coaches do well or badly through with two things; players and results. Madrid has plenty of the first and only a few of the latter," he sniped.

"Also with the coaches, Camacho lasted a month. The same with Vicente del Bosque," he added in reference to the fact that Real president Florentino Perez sacked the successful Del Bosque in 2003, despite the Spanish coach delivering the club a host of trophies including two UEFA Champions League titles.