Why Cristiano Ronaldo Did Not Succeed at Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo is always going to be the topic of discussion because of his status and what he represents to the world of football. That is exactly what happened when he signed for Italian giants Juventus during the summer of 2018, leaving behind an immense and historical legacy with Real Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo here while he was a Juventus player
So, what went wrong for Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus? Let's find that out now.
A flawed Investment Strategy
Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Juventus through a 100 million euros deal with his former club, Real Madrid, during the summer of 2018. While this was seen as a coup at the time for the Italian giants, with Ronaldo having been the star performer of Los Blancos' four Champions League trophies in the previous five seasons, the reality is that the club was having delicate finances at the time and were in need of a rebuild instead of signing a major star.Mind you, this poor use of resources wasn't exclusive to the Portuguese since the club would end up spending 75 million euros in the summer of 2019 for defender Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax, who would end up underperforming. This resulted in a squad that was heavily unbalanced and lacking the necessary quality to challenge for trophies and compete in the UEFA Champions League.
Paulo Dybala when he was playing for Juventus
Ronaldo and the Team Dynamic
Now, granted, it seems that Cristiano had a good relationship with the vast majority of the Juventus squad. For example, Italian winger Federico Chiesa has gone on record saying that the former Real Madrid man was a great example for him and holds him in high regard. Furthermore, Argentinian star Paulo Dybala also shared an interesting anecdote of playing with him."It was three good years with Cristiano, the team was strong and he gave us something extra," Dybala said in 2023, as reported by GOAL. "The rivalry between him and (Lionel) Messi is deeply felt in Argentina and as a child, of course, I was always on Messi's side. One time we were on a plane to go play a game, I was at the back and he was sitting further forward. At one point he came to me to talk about football and other things. We used to discuss our lives in general and so I said to him 'I basically hated you as a kid'. We had some laughs. We've always had a good relationship, a good dialogue."
While this is all well and good, a running dialogue when discussing Cristiano Ronaldo's time at Juventus is the fact that the team became too focused on him when it came to their playing style and their focus when creating attacks. This is something that was quite notorious while he was there, with the Portuguese scoring a lot but the team losing shape as a whole.
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Leonardo Bonucci
"Cristiano's presence had a huge impact on us. Just training with him gave us something extra, but subconsciously the players started to think that his mere presence was enough to win matches," Leonardo Bonucci told The Athletic in 2021. "We started to fall a little short in our daily work, in humility, sacrifice, and the desire to keep up with your teammates. In recent years, I think you can see that," the center-back explained. But Cristiano needed the team as much as we needed him. There had to be a balance from his teammates."
This lack of balance, which is something that Bonucci highlights, was a key factor regarding why Ronaldo's stint at Italy wasn't as successful as he could have wanted.
Coaches Forced to Build Around Ronaldo
It is telling that Juventus had three different managers during the three seasons that Ronaldo was there, with them being Massimiliano Allegri, Maurizio Sarri, and Andrea Pirlo. During a period of upheaval and transition for the institution, these men also had to deal with the fact of trying to adjust the Portuguese and make it work, all within the context of wanting to challenge for the UEFA Champions League, which was the board's main goal during those years.However, because of the aforementioned reasons, the balance was lost and each season became more difficult, with Pirlo eventually losing the Scudetto to Antonio Conte's Inter Milan side during the 2020/21 season, ending the decade of dominance by the Old Lady. Sarri himself would also comment on the striker's influence on the squad.
"Cristiano Ronaldo is a multinational corporation with personal interests that must align with the team's interests," Maurizio Sarri said in 2021, as reported by Marca. "It's a difficult situation to manage from every perspective. I consider myself a better coach than a manager. There are also many positive aspects, because Ronaldo delivers results at the end of the year. When someone reaches these levels, it's clear they represent something that transcends the team, something beyond the ordinary."
Therefore, it is not hard to imagine this taking a toll on the team as a whole. Moreover, it also put a lot of pressure on the managers, which is why the club has been sacking them ever since, losing the consistency they once had with the likes of Conte and Allegri for an entire decade.
The Lasting Impact of Ronaldo's Spell
Cristiano Ronaldo's time at Juventus might not be the most prominent time of his career, but he definitely had an impact on that club. Yes, he won titles there as well, but there was a demand for him to push the team to win the UEFA Champions League and that didn't happen, although the reasons were not just tied to his contributions.It is a very good example of what happens when a signing has a major domino effect on the rest of the club.