Having won Italy’s Serie A title for seven consecutive seasons now, it’s obvious that Juventus did not buy Cristiano Ronaldo last summer in a bid to establish domestic dominance. The Old Lady spent nearly $130 million on the 34-year-old to finally land the prize that’s eluded them since 1996, the UEFA Champions League.
Cristiano Ronaldo is back with the Portugal national team.
After more than eight months away from the Seleção das Quinas since the 2018 World Cup, coach Fernando Santos picked Ronaldo to the squad to play against Ukraine and Serbia in Euro 2020 qualifiers, the team announced Friday.
Portugal will play Ukraine on March 22 and Serbia on March 25, both at Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz.
The mission seemed impossible for Juventus after the first leg.
A defeat at Atletico Madrid meant the Old Lady needed three goals without allowing one against one of the best defenses in all of Europe.
But Juventus has something this year it’s never had before: Cristiano Ronaldo.
The former Real Madrid superstar paid off his immense transfer fee with one incredible performance, scoring a hat trick to lead Juventus to a 3-2 aggregate win in the Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday in Turin.
In his first season in Italy after nine season with Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the Spanish capital for a Champions League Round of 16 match on Wednesday.
Facing Atlético Madrid with his new Italian club Juventus, Ronaldo was unsurprisingly a target of the home fans at the Wanda Metropolitano. He responded by mocking the Atleti fans, and Los Colchoneros responded by handing the Bianconeri a critical 2-0 defeat.
Things are going fine for Cristiano Ronaldo in Italy. On Sunday, the 34-year-old scored his 18th league goal in 23 appearances during Juventus’ 3-0 victory over Sassuolo. Following Napoli’s draw with Fiorentina, the win sees Juve open up an 11-point gap at the top of the table with 15 matches remaining.
So it’s looking like an eighth straight Scudetto for the Old Lady and a Capocannoniere for Ronaldo as Serie A’s top scorer. Ho-hum.
Cristiano Ronaldo turns 34 on Tuesday. Usually strikers start fading at that age. Maybe they lose a step of pace or that passion burns a little less. But three days shy of another Ronaldo birthday, the Juventus forward is still as hungry as ever for goals.
Say what you will about hosting the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia — we certainly did, here — but Juventus won its first trophy of the Cristiano Ronaldo era on Wednesday.
It came thanks to the head of none other than Cristiano Ronaldo in a 1-0 victory over AC Milan.
You know the case isn’t closed until Zlatan Ibrahimovic has had his say, and that’s exactly what’s happened in the war of words between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi regarding the “challenge” that the Portuguese issued to the Argentine to join him in Italian football.