- 20 Dec 2024
‘Juventus are a shameful team, ruled by Cristiano Ronaldo’
Martin Macdonald
- Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
- 5 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo has been singled out for criticism by former Juventus defender Pasquale Bruno, who has launched a scathing attack on his former club and how it is being run
The Bianconeri have won nine Serie A titles in a row, but look set to miss out on their 10th after a 2020/21 season which has seen them fall off the pace in the race for the Scudetto.
They are currently third in the Italian top flight, 11 points adrift of leaders Inter, though they do have a game in hand over their title rivals, with Milan sandwiched between the two teams in second.
Ronaldo was signed by Juventus from Real Madrid primarily to win them the Champions League, having been so prolific in that tournament throughout his career.
However, since the Portuguese superstar has been at the club, they have not made it past the quarter-final stage, and were recently knocked out in the round of 16 by Porto.
In that tie, the winning goal came via a free-kick which was tamely sent past the Juventus wall into the corner. In that wall was Ronaldo, who could be seen jumping and turning his back away from the strike.
Over the past few years Juventus have sacked head coaches Massimiliano Allegri and Maurizio Sarri for their failures in the Champions League despite winning the league.
Too much player power at Juventus?
Bruno, who played for Juve between 1987 and 1990, believes their is too much player power at the club and has criticised those who run the club for allegedly bowing to player pressure, particularly from Ronaldo.
“The management of the team is ruining everything,” Bruno said on TikiTaka.
“They fired [Massimiliano] Allegri to sign [Maurizio] Sarri, then they fired him after just one season because Ronaldo and his teammates run the show.
“You get the impression that the players can have their say, but that’s not right. They are not the ones who should be making decisions.
“[Leonardo] Bonucci and [Giorgio] Chiellini look like two phenomenal players. They won nine titles int he fourth best league in the world. They beat a finished Barcelona team and the next day the newspapers wrote that they [Juventus] were the team to emulate.
“Juventus are a shameful team, ruled by Cristiano Ronaldo.”
Could Ronaldo leave Juventus?
The current pandemic has hit every club in the world hard, and Juventus are no different.
Th Old Lady are reportedly open to the idea of letting Ronaldo leave this summer in order to free up some funds, with the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star reportedly on exorbitant wages at the moment.
A sensational return to Real Madrid has been mooted, as well as a return to Man Utd, but Juve have declared that Ronaldo will not be sold this summer.
