By Pawan Atri
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo may have left Juventus for good but his former teammates from the Italian side continue to make severe allegations against him. Earlier, club legends Sergio Brio and Alessio Tacchinardi had slammed CR7 for switching to Man United in the middle of their current campaign in September.
Cristiano Ronaldo‘s return to English giants Manchester United has opened a Pandora’s box of allegations from his ex-colleagues at Juventus. The latest has come from Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who has now claimed that the former Serie A champions had lost their “DNA” during the 36-year-old footballer’s stay in Turin.
Ronaldo was brought to the Italian side by their manager Massimiliano Allegri in 2018 to earn a shot at European glory.
Juve had not won the Champions League in more than two decades and were desperate to win UEFA’s premier club tournament, but Ronaldo failed in his attempts to lift the prestigious title for them.
Buffon, who was not there at Juve during Ronaldo’s first season with the Italians as he was plying his trade at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) that year, also explained why the Bianconeri couldn’t end their long-standing Champions League drought during the former Real Madrid forward’s tenure.
“Juventus had the chance to win the Champions League the first year he arrived, which was the year I was at Paris Saint-Germain, and I couldn’t figure out what happened,” he told Spanish outlet TUDN.com, reflecting on Juve’s last 8 finish during the 2018-19 edition of the competition.
Juve were beaten by the Dutch team Ajax in the quarterfinals, winning the first game 2-1 before drawing 1-1 in the second leg to seal their spot in the semis. It was a major shock for Allegri, considering he had the likes of Ronaldo in his team.
“When I returned, I worked with CR7 for two years and we did well together, but I think Juventus lost that DNA of being a team,” the 2006 World Cup winner added.
“We reached the Champions League final in 2017 because we were a side full of experience, but above all we were a single unit and there was this competition for places within the group that was very strong. We lost that with Ronaldo,” he concluded.
Despite Ronaldo’s continuing criticism for his performance in Turin, the current Red Devils striker played a major role in the Italian team’s success, leading them to back-to-back Serie A titles in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Besides, Ronaldo was Juve’s leading goal scorer in each of his three seasons with the club, scoring 28, 37 and 36 goals respectively, during 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. In fact, his 37 goals in the Old Lady’s 2019-20 campaign is a record in the history of the club for a single season.
Moreover, Ronaldo is the quickest player to have scored 100 goals for Juventus, reaching the landmark in only his 131st game for the Italian behemoth in May this year.
With his century of goals for Allegri’s team, Ronaldo also became the first footballer in history to score 100 club goals in three different countries.
The Portugal skipper has scored 450 goals for Real Madrid, netted 101 goals for the Bianconeri and recorded 130 strikes for his current employers, the Red Devils.
Additionally, he’s the leading goal scorer in international football with 115 goals in 184 matches for Portugal.
Earlier this month, Ronaldo also became the first footballer ever to touch the milestone of 800 goals with his double against Arsenal.
