Cristiano Ronaldo’s form is cause for concern. The Portuguese forward’s constant anger after Juventus matches, La Vecchia Signora’s position in Serie A, and the player’s poor form in front of goal all have people talking.
The No.7 has now gone three games without a goal, and hasn’t scored since netting against Napoli back on April 7. Since, nothing but bad feelings have surrounded him, and he’s suffering his worst run of goalscoring form since his first season in Italy. Then, an injury left him out for six games and he hasn’t gone as long without a goal since.
“The team are disjointed, without a style, without a soul, and Cristiano is like a ghost on the pitch,” wrote Corriere della Sera, adding that the ex-Real Madrid forward looks “almost disinterested in the game”.
But the concern for Cristiano goes beyond one publication, and La Gazzetta dello Sport asked: “Cristiano, are you there?”
In the 84th minute of their 1-1 draw at Fiorentina on Sunday, the Portuguese was unable to take advantage of a lovely centred pass from Dejan Kulusevski that could have sealed the win.
Once again, Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t appear for Juventus and he left Florence without even having a shot on target.
The point they picked up leaves Juventus fourth in Serie A, with Atalanta having pulled clear by beating Bologna and AC Milan visit Lazio on Monday evening. Napoli are three points behind Juventus and play on Monday as well.
As Tuttosport have written, Cristiano Ronaldo’s future could be in doubt if Juventus miss out on the Champions League.
“If they don’t qualify for the Champions League, Juventus will not be able to cover his salary and he’ll probably look for another challenge in Manchester [with Manchester United] or in Paris [with Paris Saint-Germain].”
Coach Andrea Pirlo, for his part, again defended his No.7, despite admitting his disappointment with his own work at the club this season.
“I don’t think Ronaldo did badly,” Pirlo said. “He had some chances and, in general, his game wasn’t bad. It was the team that should have attacked in space more and we saw some of that in the second half.”
