Cristiano Ronaldo’s poor free-kick record at Juventus is due to bad luck, says teammate
Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick record since joining Juventus has been anything but impressive. However, his teammate Carlo Pinsoglio believes the Portuguese has been undone by bad luck on the field.
Cristiano Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in the summer of 2018. Having already conquered England and Spain, the Portuguese had his eyes on becoming the number one in Italy too. He has certainly managed to do so, even though his bad luck in the UEFA Champions League since moving to Turin continues to haunt him. However, there’s one more record that the Portuguese will be disappointed with - his conversion rate from free-kicks since joining Serie A.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s ability to score from free-kicks had propelled him to stardom right from his Manchester United days. The Portuguese scored some stunning goals during his time in the Premier League and United fans can never forget his brilliant set-piece from 2008 against Portsmouth. As such, it is hard to believe that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has scored just one goal from 72 attempts since joining Juventus. However, Carlo Pinsoglio, the third-choice goalkeeper at Juventus, has blamed bad luck for his poor record.
Speaking to Tuttosport, Pinsoglio revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo has a phenomenal record during training sessions, but has been undone by divine interference on the pitch.
“Cristiano always takes free-kicks in training and he scores them all the time. I don't know why he can't do it in games, maybe it's just bad luck,” said Pinsoglio
Interestingly, the Portuguese had also been inconsistent with free-kicks during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu. During his nine-year association with Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo attempted 444 free-kicks, only 33 of which ended in the back of the net. That corresponds to a 7.3% conversion rate. His free-kick record has been even worse with Juventus, with a conversion rate of just 1.4%.
Cristiano Ronaldo has continued his brilliant goalscoring form at Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his only free-kick goal in Juventus colors against Torino last July. Interestingly, the average free-kick conversion rate in the Premier League is 9.2%, which doesn’t make for great reading if you are a fan of the Portuguese. However, it has to be admitted that despite his poor record with free-kicks at Turin, the player has continued his brilliant goalscoring form since joining the Serie A giants.
Cristiano Ronaldo has already scored 95 goals from 123 appearances for Juventus and has found the back of the net 30 times from 34 games in all competitions this season.