Cristiano Ronaldo will start on the bench in Juventus’s season overture against Udinese on Sunday evening. The star player of the Turin top club is not injured, but according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano himself, he has asked not to be part of the starting eleven of trainer Massimiliano Allegri. “He hopes to find a solution in the transfer market in the coming days,” Romano assures, who also indicates that no official bids for the Portuguese international have yet been received at Juventus. His contract runs for another year.
Ronaldo, 36, was already a notable absentee from Juventus’ last friendly against the club’s Under-23s. Then it was explained that the star had a rest day in the run-up to the first Serie A weekend. Media as Sports Media Set and Sports Italia claiming that Ronaldo was benched by Allegri for ‘technical reasons’. In other words, the trainer consciously chooses a starting eleven without the attacker.
Allegri said at the press conference on Friday that Ronaldo will remain at Juventus. Italian media previously wrote that he never supported the Portuguese’s transfer to Turin and that he hoped the attacker would leave this summer. In recent weeks, Ronaldo has also been linked to Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City or even a return to Real Madrid or Manchester United.
Ronaldo responded in a statement to the transfer rumors circulating last Tuesday. The attacker found it reprehensible that so much is written about him. “The ease with which I am talked about in the media is disrespectful to me as a person and player, but even more so to all the clubs, players and staff involved in these rumours,” the five-time World Player of the Year wrote on Instagram. “A lot of stories come out, linking me to a lot of clubs in different leagues, without anyone bothering to really check if they’re right or not.”
In his statement, Ronaldo also made it clear that he does not want to let his good relationship with Real Madrid, the club for which he played for nine years and with which he celebrated great successes, be ruined and that he hopes that the rumor will come to an end. “I can’t continue to allow people to misuse my name,” he concluded. “I’m focused on my career and my job and I’m ready for whatever challenges I face. The rest is just speculation.”
Line-up Juventus: Szczesny; Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Bentancur, Ramsey, Bernardeschi, Cuadrado, Morata and Dybala.