Madrid stumbles again; Juve wins sans Ronaldo
Real Madrid is having trouble scoring with Cristiano Ronaldo no longer on the team. His new club, Juventus, did just fine without him on Tuesday.
For the first time in more than a decade, Madrid has gone three straight games without a goal after losing 1-0 at CSKA Moscow in an early setback to the Spanish club’s title defense in the Champions League.
Madrid is running into some problems in the post-Ronaldo era, having won only two of its last six games in all competitions. They arrived at Luzhniki stadium — where Spain lost to Russia in the last 16 of the World Cup — having also failed to score in its last two Spanish league games.
Not since January 2007 has Madrid gone scoreless in three consecutive games.
Ronaldo, who joined Juventus from Madrid in a deal worth 112 million euros ($131.5 million) this offseason, was missing for the Italian champions for their match against Young Boys after his sending-off against Valencia in the opening round of group play.
Paulo Dybala stepped up in the Portuguese star’s absence by scoring a hat trick in a 3-0 win to put Juventus top of its group.
Another of Ronaldo’s former clubs is struggling, too. Manchester United’s bus got stuck in traffic — leading to a delayed kickoff against Valencia — and the team never got going on the field either in a dull 0-0 draw at Old Trafford.
The stalemate comes after a week when United lost at home to second-tier opposition in an English League Cup game and to West Ham in the Premier League.
CSKA’s winning goal against Madrid came after 65 seconds, but it wasn’t the quickest strike of the night. Hoffenheim scored even earlier — after 44 seconds, to be precise — against Manchester City, which fought back to win 2-1 and revive its Champions League challenge after opening with a loss. /