Italy international Federico Bernardeschi believes Cristiano Ronaldo deserved to end his career in a different way and says he had to ‘tone down’ Jordan Pickford’s behaviour during the penalty shootout in Italy-England.
The former Juventus winger joined Toronto FC last summer and has scored eight goals in 13 appearances in the MLS.
He played with Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus and was one of those on good terms with the Portuguese superstar in Turin.
“I am sorry for Cristiano, he deserved to end his career in a different way,” he told Cronache Di Spogliatoio on Twitch.
“From what he showed, he is among the three best players in history. First of all, I am sorry, at a human level, for the person he is.
“A player of his level must stop when he thinks it’s the best moment, but one must be smart enough to understand it arrives.”
Bernardeschi is a Euro 2020 winner with Italy and converted one of the penalty kicks against England in the Final at Wembley Stadium last year.
Paulo Dybala, another of his former teammates at Juventus, did the same for Argentina on Sunday, contributing to the South Americans’ World Cup triumph against France.
“When I saw Dybala on the spot, I hoped he’d score because I know what scoring these kinds of penalties means. It takes personality,” said Bernardeschi.
“I thought about so many things while I was preparing to take the penalty kick against England, but once I had the ball in my hands, it was just me and it. It all stopped and I felt calm. I looked at Pickford doing his show and decided to hit a soft shot to tone down his attitude and give more tranquillity to those taking the penalty after me.”
Scorer of just 12 goals in 183 appearances in Turin, Bernardeschi was often criticised by Juventus fans especially because the Serie A giants invested €40m in signing him from Fiorentina in 2017.
His former teammate Adrien Rabiot received a similar treatment before this season.
“He’s always been criticised from the outside because if people had seen how he trains, nobody would say a word,” noted Bernardeschi.
“Perhaps, people should be educated to analyse a player, four or five bad games are not enough to say that the season was a failure.
“We must make people understand that going to the stadium is not a way to vent their frustrations but to have fun. Mockeries are funny, but the line should never be crossed.”
Well said. Few games cannot decide quality of a player.. persistence is important. For CR7 tomorrow is another day. Never give up
Bravo Fede.
RONALDO IS FINISHED!!!! He was finished three years ago!
That is something HE and all his fans must understand.
Ronaldo still can make a difference in competitive squad … talk is chip….
There is currently no competitive team that wants him LOL that says a lot i believe
The Portuguese squad in the world cup was competitive … Where was he?
He is done 🙂