World Soccer Presents - Rise of Ronaldo (2022)

JUVENTUS

A

t theendofa traumatic,
non-WorldCup summer,
Italianfootballcouldnot
haveasked foranything
better.CristianoRonaldo,“thegreatest
player on theplanet”,joinedthe
country’smost famousclub,
Juventus,inwhat wasmodestly
entitled“thedealofthecentury”.
Atthe very momentFrancewere
wrappinguptheir4-2 finalwinover
CroatiainMoscow, Ronaldowasflying
intoTurinairport.Hearrivedona
Sundayafternooninordertobeready
forhisfirstfulldayasa Juve playerthe
nextmorning,whichwasmarkedbythe
ritualmedicalandaneagerlyawaited
first Juventuspressconference.
Speakingatthe club’s Allianz
Stadium, thenewboysaidalltheright
things.Forthosewhowereworried
thathehad cometoItalyjustfor the
well-paidride,hepointedoutthat
hecouldhavechosenotheroptions,
explainingthatplayers of hisage,33,
usuallygotoplaceslike QatarorChina.
Healsounderlinedthepointthathe
hadacceptedthechallengeofa moveto
theItalianchampionsbecauseitwould
takehimoutofhiscomfort zone.
“IamgoingtoprovethatI am [still]a
topplayer,”he said.“Iamgoingtowork
hardin training...I am veryambitious
andI likechallenges.”
Asked whetherhetalkedtohis
formerRealMadridbossandex-Juve
player Zinedine Zidanebefore agreeing
tothe move, he answered:“No,I didn’t
speaktohim.Therewasnoneedfor

anyonetotellmejust howgooda team

Juventusis.Everyoneknowsthat.

“Inthe last fouryearstheyhavetwice

played in theChampionsLeaguefinal,

whileinthelastsevenyearstheyhave

won seven leaguetitles.Thisisoneof

thestrongest teamsinthe world.”

Ofcourse,allJuvesupporterswanted

toknow if theirstandingovationafter his

overhead-kick goalinthe Champions

Leaguequarter-finalsinTurinlast

springinfluenced hisdecision.

Again, hisanswer waswellcalibrated,

replyi

howI f

“Not

night,

I had

great

detail

made

wast

theJuv

theyap

huge

“Iha

that

even

Ifth

ofRo

thes

in 1984

desper

supers

they

title.

one

Now,

we

CristianoRonaldofeatured

heavilyinPaddyAgnew’s

2018-19SerieA preview

afterhecompletedhis

movetoJuventus

fromRealMadrid

a m ed

Ronaldo gives Serie A

boost