Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos has chosen to endure the pain of a shoulder injury — with the assistance of cortisone injections into the damaged area — in an effort to enhance his side’s title charge both domestically and in Europe.

The 29-year-old’s shoulder problem dates back to Sept. 15, when the defender suffered the injury during a Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk. Since that time, Ramos has missed six games and elected to play matches against Atletico Madrid, Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain with the assistance of pain-killing injections.

The Spain international landed on the injured shoulder while finishing off a spectacular overhead goal against Sevilla this past weekend. Following the match, there was concern among Real Madrid officials that the team captain would miss out on the upcoming Clasico showdown with Barcelona on Nov. 21.

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Speaking after his side’s 3-2 defeat to Sevilla, Ramos told the media: “The shoulder is not great. I fell badly on it and hurt it again. It’s something of a setback.” The center back was subsequently ruled out of Spain’s upcoming friendlies against England and Belgium.

However, after spending this morning undergoing tests at the Hospital Universitario Sanitas-La Moraleja, Ramos has informed the Real Madrid’s medical staff that he will postpone surgery until after the match against Barcelona in an effort to increase the team’s chances of victory during the crucial encounter at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Real Madrid will enter that contest trailing league-leading Barcelona by three points on the La Liga table after 11 games played.

Programming note: If you live in the United States, the game is being televised on beIN SPORTS and beIN SPORTS Español as well as being streamed live on fuboTV. If you don’t have a TV subscription to beIN SPORTS, you can watch Real Madrid versus Barcelona live on fuboTV for just $6.99 per month. The service streams the beIN broadcast in HD to your computer, tablet, smartphone, Apple TV or Roku. And set-up just takes minutes. Read our fuboTV FAQ. And sign up for fuboTV via their website.