Cristiano Ronaldo’s desire to leave Juventus can’t come as a surprise, but it’s happening so quickly and suddenly because he was allowed to be bigger than the club, writes Lorenzo Bettoni.
A new era begins for the Old Lady as Cristiano Ronaldo is set to leave the Bianconeri after three seasons, 134 games and 101 goals in a black and white shirt.
Apparently, it’s all happening in a matter of days, but the reality is Cristiano has wanted to leave Juventus for a long time and it was impossible not to notice it. Back in May, Football Italia wrote the Portuguese star was likely to leave Turin in the summer, and not just because he had moved his supercars from his property in the city.
Andrea Pirlo had replaced him in the final minutes of the game against Inter and Ronaldo spent the last minutes of the most important match of the season inside the dressing room rather than on the bench, like all his teammates.
One week later, he would spend the entire game against Bologna on the bench and after the end of the season, prior to the beginning of UEFA Euro 2020, he wrote one of his most selfish Instagram posts, listing his records in Italy and thanking everybody for the journey.
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In all this, Juventus acted like a lover who knows they’re being betrayed, but are not strong enough to react. Why? Because Ronaldo was allowed to be bigger than the club since the very first day he moved to the Allianz Stadium.
He was allowed to do things the others couldn’t do and it’s always been this way. When Maurizio Sarri replaced him in a home game against Milan, Ronaldo was fuming and walked straight inside the dressing room, leaving the stadium even before the game was finished. Paulo Dybala, the man who had come in to replace him, eventually scored the winner for the Bianconeri. But that made little difference inside Ronaldo’s mind. The club didn’t do anything to prevent that attitude from the most important player on the team and the highest earner inside the dressing room.
In the second part of the season, after the COVID pandemic, the Portuguese would often miss Sarri’s tactical sessions at Continassa, and with Pirlo in charge, things didn’t go any better. The game against Inter in May was the only one where he was replaced for a tactical reason.
After the game against Cagliari in March, a few days on from Juventus’ Champions League elimination at hands of Porto, he refused to talk to the press after scoring a decisive hat-trick. The day after Juventus’ 3-0 defeat against Milan, which appeared to be a decisive blow in the Bianconeri’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, he was accompanied by Andrea Agnelli and John Elkann to the Ferrari factory in Maranello, while all his teammates where training at Continassa.
Video: Ronaldo leaves Juventus’ training ground for the last time
His teammates felt he had been treated differently. Back in May, La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote Ronaldo felt isolated inside the dressing room, in part because he was allowed to do things his teammates couldn’t do. COVID restrictions also offered an example of it. This past January, he went to Courmayeur with his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez, crossing the borders of the Region of Piemonte despite restrictions which allowed to do so only in case of emergency or working reasons. Ronaldo may have had a good reason to do so, but that was never made public and Pirlo justified the trip by saying that a player can do what he wants during his day off.
Trouble is, three of his teammates, Paulo Dybala, Arthur and Weston McKenniem also broke COVID rules in April, attending a party inside the house of the American midfielder. At that time, there was a nationwide curfew in place, from 10pm to 5am and it was forbidden to organise private parties.
Of course, attending a party is not the same as going to the mountain alone with your girlfriend, but on paper they had all broke COVID rules. The difference is that the trio was fined and left out of the derby against Torino, while Ronaldo faced no consequences.
La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote on Friday morning that Juventus gave to Ronaldo more than what he gave to the club. That is true, despite his 101 goals in three years. However, it is also true that the Old Lady has part of the responsibility because Ronaldo was allowed to do almost anything he wanted. It’s not that he was unprofessional, but he acted as somebody who is bigger than the club and he was allowed to do so.
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Many Juventus fans didn’t, or didn’t want, to believe he wanted to leave even when Ronaldo made that selfish post on Instagram to react to the latest rumour linking him with a return to Real Madrid. News, by the way, which was broken by his close friend Edu Aguirre, with whom he had spent a considerable part of his summer holidays.
Looking back, that may have been his last, desperate, attempt to return to the Spanish capital. Cristiano reacted, demanding respect for his former club, but never mentioned Juventus, nor said he wanted to stay. However, many saw it as proof he absolutely wanted to stay in Turin. That was clearly not the case.
So, it can’t came as a surprise that Ronaldo wanted to leave Juventus and that he did it in this fashion. His agent Jorge Mendes even tried to arrange for him to leave for free to join a club that had offered €176m to sign Harry Kane. That was too much, even for Juventus.
Not a loss for Juventus by any stretch of the imagination. His transfer allows them to focus on a new project instead of trying to re-ignite an old, dying flame.
thank god he’s leaving, he was acting almighty, while the club is also to blame they not only allowed it, but encouraged that kind of behaviour from him
as mentioned in article, club gave him more than he gave to the club
Best thing to happen to Juve in 3 years. The club can now recalibrate and go back to running the club in a more fiscally responsible way, the team can recalibrate and move forward as a more united team unit with no primadonna hogging the headlines. More importantly, the manager can now deal with one less major headache and imprint his style and tactics on the team, who have already, on a number of occasions, showed that they can play well and win without Ronaldo. Ronaldo never bought into Juventus the club like previous superstars have in the past and remained loyal to its colours and its history.
Cool story but reality is CR7 was also allowed to be bigger than the italian media. 3 years of sucking up to the man, only now when he leaves they have the guts to critisize.
His goal tally cannot be questioned. What though cannot be denied is that Ronaldo didn’t improve Juventus. In fact, I’ll go as far as saying the team actually regressed with him being there. Him moving there has in some ways coincided with the team being in decline, but the more he played, the more one dimensional they’ve become. I for one would love for him to stay. Last season they were extremely lucky to make the top 4. with him staying, they’ll hopefully struggle to make the top 6. Please, Cristina. Stay a little longer.
@Rosario, I couldn’t agree more as a Juve fan I have long been praying for this and actually consider it the best move we are ‘forced’ to make even if the move is in the opposite direction.
No objective person will doubt that CR7 is a goal machine but in the same light it is very clear to every objective person that CR7 is never been a Team Man and his time at Juve proved it even further.
Juve needed to have shipped him after his 2nd season because as far as I was concerned with him we were never the TEAM UNIT that had been so drilled into the mentality of Juve beginning from Conte’s era as coach. We could win the league comfortably with him and though we won 2 with him truth is we didn’t need a CR7 to conquer Italy we rather slumped with him and stuttered to those 2 titles.
I have maintained that we needed to let him go and invest so Coaches and the entire Team essentially is not forced into thinking about changing tactics just to accommodate him plus we can save on his salary and invest in building a solid younger Team that would hopefully peak in about 2-3.
For me its a win-win situation although I wish this drama had unfolded about a year ago we would have saved 30mil plus to get ourselves some good young lad who can develop and give us a lot more years than a good fairly old CR7 (who although is still one of the most clinical in front of goal ) can only give us another 1-2 years max on such a salary
@Andrea.
Nonsense. The media don’t run Juventus. The owners, and the manager allowed team Ronaldo to supersede team Juventus. It’s not like the media can impose fines on him for skipping training, breaking covid restrictions or not supporting his teammates when not playing / being subbed. Juventus treated Ronaldo in ways that would have one think he’d come to Juventus for free. That he was some missionary who’d saved Juventus from total destruction and resurrected them. They paid 100m plus a huge salary, and yet somehow still allowed him to do whatever he wanted to the detriment of the team. It isn’t mentioned here but I also know there were reports that he was demanding which games to play, miss, and also how much rest he should have etc. He effectively seemed to have had his own setup within a football club. Nobody to blame but the club and its management.
@rosario
Improve your reading skills. Im not saying management is not at fault, of course they are. Im saying the italian media also treated their cash cow like a saint, and now when he leaves, all his arrogant behaviour for 3 years get mentioned. Everyone treated him like a king.
Theres a reason why people like Lorenzo Bettoni didnt have this take 2 years ago, 1 year ago or just 1 month ago, If CR7 stayed these kind of articles would not be written now.
More than anything controversy will always follow a great player and his massive ego. Yes Ronaldo is a great player and continues to work on his fitness & skills and should be admired for his work ethic. He will be a fit for the MC madness where $$ is no object and the team and coach’s obsession to win the CL is probably the prime reason they want him.
Yet even with a great team last year it was Chelsea who hoisted the trophy why? Because Tuchel gave his team the confidence and strategy to win the tournament and Pep failed again. Did Ronaldo save Juve, bring them to the CL championship,no, nor did he bring a scudetto last year. Great teams and leaders are often led by men who don’t score the most goals but instill the belief of team success and confidence in there mates. In the recent European championship it was Chiellini & Bonucci who instilled that belief in their teammates.
Ronaldo has great skill but will never possess that gift. Ciao, Ciao e buona fortuna Christiano.
@Andrea.
Reading skills? You made zero mention of Juventus and their management. Was I supposed to read your mind?
Good riddance! I support Juventus and AC Milan, but the past few years I was okay with Juventus not performing well due to the presence of Ronaldo as I didn’t want him in Italy. They really didn’t need him, having already won 34 scudetti and several European championships before his arrival. So what did he bring of consequential value? Some notoriety, a bunch of fanboys, and lots of drama. The 2 scudetti they won with him were not the primary objective, so really he leaves as a loser. That Instragram of his where he touts his time at Real Madrid, nowhere does the word “team” appear yet he goes on about disrespect and truth, further cementing this @$$hat’s high self-opinion. He’s incredibly talented, real good looking, but despite all that, he’s fundamentally a disgraceful team member. He’ll be a champion somewhere else, but he won’t be a Juventus legend…think I’ll offer a rooster to Asclepius on behalf of Torino.
@rosario
Also is the keyword youre looking for in what I wrote. Referring to the first line in the editorial.
“Cristiano Ronaldo’s desire to leave Juventus can’t come as a surprise, but it’s happening so quickly and suddenly because he was allowed to be bigger than the club, writes Lorenzo Bettoni.”
Again, improve your reading skills.
All the reasons have already been stated. But the operation for Cristiano has set the club back years. Mauricio Sarri, Andrea Pirlo, and many others have picked up the checque (metaphorically) for Andrea Agnelli’s $200 million Euro one-sided bromance with the Portuguese great. It’s time for regime change at Italy’s most successful and glamorous club. Otherwise the clubs’ massive following has nothing to look forward to.
The Media, F-I included bent over backwards for Ronaldo, Juventus bent over backward for Ronaldo… what does anyone think is going to happen? The goal of Ronaldo at the club was to sell shirts and win the Champions League. I think Juventus sold a lot of shirts, but like Beckham at Milan there was no substance to the flash.
Here’s my question – Ronaldo scored something like 29 goals for Juventus last season and the club finished around 10 points off 1st place – where they should have finished if one paid attention to their wage bill – and barely made 4th; with him gone which player is going to replace those goals? How are Juventus who were almost kicked out of Champions League football with a player making 29 goals going to be better, which is what all the Juve fans are telling me repeatedly, without those goals? That’s the question that needs to be answered. Will someone step up? Maybe, but the real terror has to be… what happens if someone DOESN’T step up?
Juve without Champions League football is a failure and a ridiculous one at that. With that wage bill, the unfair advantage of that stadium, and all that arrogance behind the club – what happens if the club continues to fall out of the Italian elite?
@Joe Schmoe Ronaldo scored all the goals because the team had to play for him. Juve has players that can score and as a collective, they can score plenty of goals. It was frustrating to see Ronaldo take 73 free kicks and only score one goal when Pjanic and Dybala would have scored at least 4-5 each per season (as they used to). It was also frustrating seeing him ignore teamates in better goalscoring positions only to see him shoot from impossible angles and miss. How many goals have other players missed out on because of his greed and narcissism? And how much more room will the Juve forwards now have to operate in and score goals with him gone? They are the questions you need to ask, not who is going to score 29 goals (mainly tap-in and penalties by the way)
As for your comment about Juve’s ‘unfair’ advantage in having their own stadium, how is that unfair? The other teams need to work towards building and owning their own stadiums – their poor management is not Juve’s fault.
@Joe Schmoe – I have to agree with @Frankie on this one, the team was set up so that Ronaldo could score (and continue to break all records) Ronaldo is a great player, a great professional, an inspiration and role model. All of those things – and a very physically fit person for his age. However he does have a narcissistic streak (which perhaps one needs to achieve the level he has) I think Ronaldo came to Juventus because he wanted to win the scudetto (three titles in three leagues) become top scorer (top scorer in three leagues etc) and of course the CL. Which didn’t work out . The latter is what Juventus desperately wanted so it was a kind of Faustian pact – tolerate his behaviour in exchange for the CL.
Like Mourinho at Inter a decade ago – Ronaldo came to Serie A to win the triple (Premier League, Serie A, La Liga) Mourinho has returned and a lot more humble this time. Ronaldo will never return as a player but may return one day and next time with more humility. And it has to be said, three years ago, when the transfer was announced everyone in Italy was excited.
Quite one-sided article.
Cristiano indeed gave his all for Juve. He said Juve was the best family he got when he came. You can see what his teammates did after all those trainings that Ronaldo missed. It was the same Ronaldo who made the differences. He saved Juve again and again and again from losing points. When Morata, Dybala, Chiesa, De Ligt was injured, 36 years old Ronaldo had to start every match, even Spezia, Crotone games. Where did all those trainings go for his teammates?
I get the complaints of the Juve fans. Cristiano absorbs too much limelight which can hurt the culture of any club which he did. Can’t actually blame him much about these. It was us CR7 fans who complained about Juve’s transfer policy, management, dealings etc. He didn’t speak a word on the transfers, even if he knew he deserved a lot better.
He did his job, 8 goal contribution out 11 in UCL KO, you really can’t put all the blame on him. 81 Serie A goals, best ratio in Serie A history, most goals for Juve in a season, most goals for Juve in last decade playing only 3 years.
Probably, one Champions League would suffice for everything and make it a happy ending.
Anyway, with or without Cris, we CR7 fans will always defend Juve. Good luck for the season.
#FinoAllaFine