REAL MADRID: Real Madrid have issued a statement denying that Cristiano Ronaldo contracted swine flu during the club's tour of the United States, as rumours persisted that he did.

The Portuguese star has pulled out of the national squad for the midweek encounter with Liechtenstein because of the illness and is under the Spanish club's supervision.

Having played a few minutes against DC United with the symptoms, fears were raised that he could have spread the virus and those were heightened as he suffered on the return flight to Madrid.

But Los Merengues have issued an official denial that Ronaldo has anything other than a normal strain of flu and that he will recover in the next few days.

Under the headline "The player is recovering from the common flu", Real Madrid gave a basic message to fans about the star's current condition.

"Cristiano Ronaldo returned from Washington DC with the flu and has been told to rest at home and was prescribed medication," the statement read.