This is why Ronaldo quit Juventus
Carlo Garganese
- 16 Mar 2022 22:24 GMT
- 4 min read
Juventus fans flocked onto social media on Tuesday evening to mock Cristiano Ronaldo after Man Utd were eliminated from the Champions League by Atletico Madrid.
Ronaldo, of course, had opted to quit Juventus in the last days of last summer’s transfer window in order to return to Man Utd.
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The reason Ronaldo quit was because he believed Juve could no longer match his ambitions.
The Bianconeri had finished fourth in Serie A last season and only made it into the Champions League on the last day because Napoli failed to beat Verona at home.
Juve’s 2021-22 campaign has shown that Ronaldo was right to doubt the Old Lady.
They have been battling all season just to get into the top-four and have only just broken into it in the last few weeks on the back of an unbeaten Serie A run lasting over three months.
However, all throughout this unbeaten run Juventus have not played well.
They have grinded out narrow wins and draws and their top scorer over the last eight games has been ‘own goal’ with four goals.
The €80 million January signing Dusan Vlahovic will be big for the club going forward – and he has already started well – but the simple truth is that this is the worst Juventus team for well over a decade.
That was demonstrated on Wednesday evening as Juventus embarrassingly went out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage to Villarreal.
FT | ⌛ | Final whistle at Allianz Stadium.#JuveVillarreal #JuveUCL #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/hk43vj6U4e
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) March 16, 2022
They were thrashed 3-0 at home by a team that is seventh in La Liga.
In truth, the result was a little harsh on Juve who created at least two clear chances in the first half.
But Juventus completely fell away after half time before capitulating like PSG in conceding three goals in the final 12 minutes.
The blame will naturally and deservedly fall on Max Allegri, who has disappointed since returning to the club last summer. As has been the case all season, Juve lacked creativity and any idea of how to break down their opponent.
Allegri’s coaching philosophy is somewhat old fashioned, and some would say outdated. He is still a safety-first coach and that just doesn’t cut it in modern football.
But Juve’s problems go much deeper than just the coach. Juventus have now been eliminated in the last-16 stage for three years in a row. The list of teams to knock them out? Lyon, Porto and Villarreal.
That says it all.
Tonight Juventus were playing the likes of Daniele Rugani, Mattia De Sciglio and Adrien Rabiot. These are not Juventus-level players - just see the penalty Rugani conceded for evidence of that.
It should be pointed out that the team that Ronaldo joined is no better than this poor side. Ronaldo has not moved on to better things.
Man Utd probably won’t qualify for the Champions League, while Juventus should do so. And Ronaldo will probably quit the club this summer to join a team who are in Europe’s biggest competition.
Ronaldo also is as much of a problem these days to his team at 37 as he is a solution, as both Juventus and Man Utd fans will agree.
But Juventus fans can no longer mock Ronaldo after their team was dumped out of the Champions League just 24 hours after their former idol was.
