"Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates rule the Juventus dressing room" - Pasquale Bruno
Former Torino player Pasquale Bruno has accused Juventus of letting Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates control the dressing room.
Addressing Juventus' recent managerial changes, Bruno said the Turin giants are not doing the right thing by changing managers so frequently. He also took aim at the hype around the Bianconeri after they beat Barcelona in the Champions League earlier this season.
Speaking to TikiTaka, the former Torino defender said (via Football Italia):
“They have an embarrassing team. Bonucci and Chiellini seem like two phenomena, but they won nine titles in the fourth league in the world. They beat a finished Barcelona side, and the day after, papers wrote they were the team to beat. Come on.”
“The management is messing everything up. They sacked Allegri to hire Sarri, but he was also fired after only one season because Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates rule the Juventus dressing room."
He added:
“One has the feeling, players can have their say, but it’s not nice. They are not the ones who must make decisions.”
Occupying third position in Serie A and having been eliminated by Porto in the UEFA Champions League, Juventus have some tough decisions to make in the coming months.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus future has been subject to intense speculation in the last few weeks
Ever since Juventus' elimination from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Porto, there have been a number of reports linking Cristiano Ronaldo with a move away from Turin.
Real Madrid, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain have all been credited with an interest in the Portuguese superstar. With the coronavirus pandemic hitting Juventus hard, the club might look to sell Cristiano Ronaldo and freshen up their ageing squad.
New manager Andrea Pirlo has come under a lot of pressure as well. Thrust into senior management after the dismissal of Maurizio Sarri, the Juventus legend has struggled to impose his tactics and style of play on the team.
The Old Lady have struggled with consistency and are currently 10 points behind league leaders Inter Milan in Serie A. While Cristiano Ronaldo continues to perform and score goals, Juventus will be desperate to reduce their dependency on him and find other goal threats in their team.
Superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Aaron Ramsey have all been linked with exits in recent weeks. It will be interesting to see how the Italian giants tackle this situation in the summer transfer window.