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TURIN. — Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of betraying his Juventus team-mates by the Italian media after the Serie A giants were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Andrea Pirlo’s men were dumped out at the last-16 stage by Porto after a thrilling clash here saw them win 3-2 on the night, but lost on away goals following a 4-4 aggregate score.
And, Ronaldo, who turned his back on Sergio Oliveira’s decisive free-kick in extra-time, has been singled out for his role in Juventus’ shock early exit.
Corriere dello Sport used the headline ‘Betrayed by Ronaldo’ on their front page yesterday morning, suggesting the Portuguese should have blocked the shot which squeezed past Wojciech Szczesny and into the bottom corner. Oliveira’s strike made it 2-2 on the night in the 115th minute and crucially gave Porto an extra away goal, meaning Adrien Rabiot’s late winner three minutes later counted for nothing.
The same newspaper also highlighted Szczesny for his role in the goal – describing his failure to save the shot as a ‘decisive error’ — while making reference to the fact the visitors played with 10 men for over an hour after Mehdi Taremi’s red card on 54 minutes.
Gazzetta dello Sport also took aim at Pirlo and his players, calling Tuesday’s result ‘another Champions League disaster’ for the club.
The Italian sports daily also singled out Ronaldo, saying he had ‘’disappointed’’ across the entire game, rather than just criticising him for his poor defending late on.
Gazzetta claimed his future at Juve is now ‘’full of uncertainty’’ following their second consecutive exit from the Champions League at the last-16 stage.
Tuttosport were also left frustrated by the Italian giants’ performance, describing the club’s elimination as “incredible.’’
They used the headline “Juve, not like that!’’ on their front page, seemingly in disbelief that the Serie A giants had failed to put away a side playing with 10 men for so long.
The same newspaper also made a less than favourable comparison between Pirlo and former boss Maurizio Sarri, saying that the current manager was “like’’ the man he replaced after being knocked out of the competition at the same stage. Corriere dello Sport were far from kind about the former Juve midfielder’s role in his side’s defeat too, describing Pirlo as “incomplete’’ on their front page.
The same paper also called Tuesday’s shock defeat “the bitterest night’’ for Juventus in what has been a difficult season so far.
As Ronaldo trudged off the pitch, having been at least partly at fault for the goal which sent Juve crashing out of the Champions League, it felt like a significant moment.
How many more opportunities will one of the game’s all-time greats get to win another European crown?
And in a team whose domestic dominance has disappeared this season, what chance does he actually have of winning it?
A move to America and Major League Soccer will undoubtedly be of interest when 2022 rolls around, meaning Ronaldo could feasibly have just one more shot at winning the Champions League before he hangs up his boots.
For a player who has become synonymous with the competition since making his debut for Manchester United back in 2003, it would be a shame if he didn’t make a fist of it one final time. Juventus splashed out £100million on Ronaldo in 2018 in a bid to finally end their Champions League hoodoo — they haven’t won the European Cup since 1996 — but things haven’t gone to plan since.
A quarter-final exit to Ajax in 2019 has been followed by last-16 disappointment in the last two seasons, first to Lyon last term, and then to Porto on Tuesday night.
Failing to make it to the latter stages is something Ronaldo, the Champions League’s all-time leading scorer with an incredible 134 goals, is simply not accustomed to.
Pirlo insisted he was not worried about his future despite former boss Maurizio Sarri being sacked for not getting past the round of 16.
He told Sky Sport Italia: “I don’t know why Sarri was removed. I am the coach of Juventus, I was brought in for a more ample approach, a project that was always meant to develop over several years, so I am not concerned.
“I am not happy to be working with a full week, as I’d have preferred to stay in the Champions League. “Now that we’re in this situation, we can work on various aspects in training, which we haven’t had time to do so far this season, and try to improve on those.
“When you make four big errors over two legs in the Champions League Round of 16, you can get eliminated.
“We didn’t get it wrong when Porto were down to 10, as all we could do was try to spread them out by moving the ball side to side and packing the penalty area with bodies. That is how the goals arrived.’’ — Mailonline.
Online Reporter