Vinicius shin injury heaps more pain on Madrid

MADRID, March 6 (Reuters) - Still reeling from their painful Champions League elimination by Ajax Amsterdam, Real Madrid said on Wednesday that Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr had suffered ligament damage in his right shin, potentially ruling him out for eight weeks.

"After tests on our player Vinicius Jr, he has been diagnosed with damaged ligaments in the tibioperoneal joint. Pending evolution," said a medical report from Real.

Vinicius, 18, was reduced to tears when forced off in the first half of Madrid's 4-1 defeat at home to Ajax on Tuesday, which sealed a 5-3 aggregate defeat for the triple European champions.

As ever, Madrid did not state how long the player would be out for, but Spanish media reports said he would be sidelined for up to two months, meaning he will miss most of the remainder of the domestic La Liga campaign.

Vinicius, Madrid's outstanding player in a rollercoaster season, is also ruled out of Brazil's friendlies with Panama and Czech Republic later this month, where he was due to make his international debut after receiving a first call up to the national squad.

The defeat to Ajax capped a harrowing week for Madrid, who were knocked out of the Copa del Rey last Wednesday with defeat to Barcelona and suffered a 1-0 defeat to the Catalans in the league which sent them 12 points adrift of Barca in La Liga.