Italian football legend and former Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has become the latest player to criticise Cristiano Ronaldo. In a shocking claim, Buffon blamed the Portuguese superstar who joined Juventus from Real Madrid for Juve’s struggles as a team. The club lost its ‘DNA’ following Ronaldo’s arrival, says the veteran goalkeeper.
Buffon becomes the third Juventus player after Giorgio Chiellini and Leandro Bonucci to openly voice their opinion about the Portuguese captain.
Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in 2018 as the Italian club looked for European success. In Ronaldo’s first season, Ajax knocked them out in the quarterfinals stage. Buffon was not part of Juventus that season as he joined PSG.
He returned to the Old Lady of Turin the following season played with Ronaldo for two years, but European glory continued to evade the Italian giants.
“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," Buffon told TUDN.com
“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 added.
Juventus signed Ronaldo for 100 million euros as they chased European success. Their monopoly over the Italian league continued as they won the Scudetto twice in Ronaldo’s first two years with the club, but they drifted further from challenging Europe’s top prize. Last season, under Andrea Pirlo, the Old Lady of Turin finished fourth in the league.
Despite the criticism, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 101 goals in 134 games, winning the Serie A golden boot and finishing as Juventus’ top goalscorer for 2021 — despite having left five months before the end of the year.
Ronaldo left the shores of the Po at the beginning of this season and joined Manchester United, where he has continued his goal-scoring form. The 36-year-old has 13 goals this season in all competitions.
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