Cristiano Ronaldo's ambition of winning a record sixth Champions League has come to an end as Juventus were eliminated from an automatic UEFA Champions League qualification position following a 3-0 loss to AC Milan on Sunday. The Italian club had to win their last match against Sassuolo to qualify for the next round, but they lost 1-0.
The defeat was Juve's first in the group stage this season and it came just two days after they defeated Real Madrid 5-3 on aggregate to advance to the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia. This is also the second time this year that they have been eliminated from the European competitions by a single goal scoreline. In February, they were beaten 2-1 by Napoli in the last 16 of the Europa League.
Milan went ahead in the 25th minute when Gonzalo Higuaín scored his third goal in three matches. Danilo D'Ambrosio made it 2-0 in the 57th minute before Leonardo Bonucci scored an own goal in the 79th minute.
This is the first time since the 2009-10 season that Juventus have been eliminated from all of their opening games of a season. They will be hoping to recover quickly from this elimination at the hands of AC Milan who were already guaranteed to qualify from Group B along with Barcelona and Lyon.
In Ronaldo's first season at Juventus, Juventus was eliminated by Ajax in the 2019 quarterfinals. The current defeat is another setback in the Champions League for the 36-year-old great, who was used to lifting titles during his time at Real Madrid.
Juventus was the last remaining unbeaten team in all of Europe when it traveled to Amsterdam to take on Ajax in the quarterfinals. The Italian club was held to a 1-1 draw by Lucas Torreira's side and was knocked out of the tournament. However, this loss is also Juve's only one this season - they have won every match since then including the return leg against Ajax.
As far as qualification is concerned, Juventus needs to win its last two games (against Genoa and Fiorentina) to secure third place and qualify for the next round. If it fails to do so, then its spot will go to the team that finishes in second place - Parma.
However, even if Juve manages to qualify, it will be difficult for them to reach the final due to their past history with AS Roma. The two clubs are currently level on points at the top of the table but Roma has a game in hand because it played one match later than its rival.
Ronaldo's not-so-surprising move to Juventus signified the end of his career, but he's still making huge sums in Italy. Cristiano Ronaldo completed his move from Real Madrid to Juventus in the summer of 2018, ending his nine-year stay at the Bernabeu. The Portuguese star joined the Italian champions for a reported €100 million ($113 million).
He signed a contract with Juventus which will see him earn up to $1 billion over 10 years.
Ronaldo has won every single trophy available for players, including three UEFA Champions League titles, two FIFA Club World Cups and one Olympic gold medal. He is also the only player to have scored in all four major European competitions (European Cup/Europa League, UEFA Champions League, La Liga and Premier League).
His record earnings are slightly ahead of Lionel Messi's ($90 million) but behind Boris Becker ($140 million). Ronaldo has also won more awards than any other player in sports history - with 22 prizes to his name. He was voted the best soccer player in the world by France's El Pais newspaper twice - in 2009 and 2010.
Ronaldo made his debut for Manchester United against Liverpool on 8 August 2001. He scored his first goal for the club a month later against Wimbledon. In total, he scored 46 goals in 99 appearances for United before moving to Juventus a year later.
Ronaldo signed a four-year deal with Juventus in the summer of 2018, with the objective of helping the team take the next step in Europe and win the Champions League. However, he fell out with coach Massimiliano Allegri over his playing time and left Italy after one season.
He had been linked with moves to Barcelona and Real Madrid for much of last year but ended up signing a contract with Juventus. At the time, both Barca and Madrid said that they had not made any offer for him.
However, recent reports from Spain have claimed that Madrid did make an offer to sign Ronaldo when he was still at Juve, but Juventus rejected it.
As per as BBC Sport journalist Mark Langdon, Ronaldo's decision to leave Juve was due to a lack of playing time. Under former manager Allegri, the Portuguese star only managed nine appearances in all competitions.
Allegri was replaced by Paulo Dybala as Ronaldo's new manager and the latter wanted the player to be involved in the development of young players instead of just playing time. This is why Ronaldo decided to leave Italy after one season instead of waiting until the end of his deal in June 2019 as originally planned.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc.
