Cristiano Ronaldo news: Juventus star wanted to play against Milan despite injury, claims club vice-president

What's the story?

Juventus vice president Pavel Nedved has claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo had to be forced to not play through his injury as the Portuguese ace was adamant on playing against AC Milan last week.

In case you didn't know...

Ronaldo has been kept away from the Old Lady's games against Empoli, Cagliari, and AC Milan owing to an injury he picked up while on international duty for Portugal at the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

The 34-year-old had initially expressed confidence in his return to the squad but appears to have been rested as a precautionary measure given Juventus' impending game against Ajax in the UEFA Champions League.

The former Real Madrid star single-handedly fired the Serie A leaders to the quarter-finals of the competition with a spectacular hat-trick and will be looking to produce similar heroics when he returns for the fixture this week.

Speaking about the injury, Juventus boss Max Allegri said,

"He [Ronaldo] always feels ready, but I told him to rest [today]. We are confident of having him at Ajax on Wednesday. Ronaldo is getting better. We have good chances to see him against Ajax. But let's wait these days."

"We have Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. There are four days left and in four days chances can increase."

The heart of the matter

Nedved has now revealed that Ronaldo was desperate to play against AC Milan and had to be stopped by the club to sit the game out.

According to Express UK, the club vice-president said,

"We had to stop it! His return is scheduled for Wednesday against Ajax."

Juventus went on to win the game against the Italian giants last weekend, courtesy of goals from Paulo Dybala and Moise Kean.

What's next?

Juventus are scheduled to play Ajax in the Champions League on April 10.