Ronaldo key to Juventus’ cup dreams
MILAN — With the arrival of fivetime Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, this could be the year that Juventus finally wins the Champions League again.
Juventus has won Europe’s premier club competition twice but the last time was in 1996. It has been on the losing side in the final five times since then, including twice in the past four editions.
The Bianconeri lost to Real Madrid in the 2017 final, with Ronaldo scoring twice in a 4-1 win. Ronaldo also scored twice against Juventus in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals last season, including a spectacular overhead goal — which earned him a standing ovation from Juventus fans.
Juventus always plays down the idea that the Champions League has become an obsession but coach Massimiliano Allegri knows that having a player who has won the competition five times — including in four of the last five seasons — can bring some much-needed experience to the club.
“We’ve always had the aim of winning the Champions League and certainly the signing of Ronaldo will give us more awareness of how to achieve it,” Allegri said at an event at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.
“But that, together with the league, the Italian Cup and the Italian Super Cup are the four aims for which Juventus has always played for.”
Juventus has won the Serie A title for the last seven seasons — and the league and Italian Cup double for the past four — but it has struggled to transfer its domestic supremacy to the European stage.
Ronaldo has dominated the Champions League and has scored a competition record of 120 goals, 105 of them since moving to Madrid in 2009 — 12 more than Juventus as a team managed in that same period.
“I think it’s a very important signing and a step up for everyone, for the club and the whole environment,” Allegri said. “When we start again on July 30 and everyone comes back, we’ll have an important year ahead of us, like all the others, with objectives that need to be achieved.”
Juventus announced on Tuesday it would pay $131.5 million US for Ronaldo, who signed a four-year deal with the Serie A champions.
The 33-year-old Portugal international will undergo a medical in Turin and is expected to be presented to the media on Monday.
The signing got a warm welcome in Italy as it will bring more attention to a league which has been largely devoid of bigname players in recent years. It will also boost the Italian game, with the country still reeling after not qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years.