Ronaldo set for Turin debut as Juventus break billion-euro mark on stock exchange

AFP  |  Turin 

plays his first competitive game in on Saturday as it was revealed that his arrival at has pushed the champions over the billion-euro mark on the

It is the first time the club has reached that level since its introduction on the stock exchange in 2001.

That compares to Manchester United, the world's richest club, whose overall value is 3.1bn pound ($3.9 billion).

Juventus's shares have grown 55.15 percent on the stock exchange since July 1, increasing from 0.660 euro to 1.024 euros.

"The rise peaked this summer, starting in June, when the first information about the possible arrival of began circulating," noted e

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner joined the champions from Real Madrid on July 10 in a 100-million-euro deal. He earns a salary of 30 million euros per year.

Since his arrival sales of the club's black and white jersey have also exploded.

e added that the volume of share sales went from 19 million euros in June to 301 million euros in July.

Ronaldo played his first competitive game in a 3-2 win against Chievo in last weekend. His first game in is against on Saturday at 1600 GMT.

"There's excitement in the air!" said

"Ronaldo is bringing a great enthusiasm to Italian football, I see all the people that are waiting outside, but regardless of the excitement, we still have to win games.

"We haven't won anything just by signing him, so we have to show that on the pitch.

"will make it a great encounter, they defeated us last season at Stadium to end a 41-game unbeaten run. So it's very important, even if it is only our second match of the season."

Simone Inzaghi's Roman side -- who finished fifth last season -- lost their opening match of the season 1-0 against Napoli.

"It would be wrong to only think about Ronaldo," said Inzaghi.

"They'll also play (Paulo) Dybala and (Mario) Mandzukic, and they have so many alternatives on the bench.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sat, August 25 2018. 16:25 IST