Ronaldo's debut for Juventus: Good or Bad?
Ronaldo debuted for Juventus when the Bianconeri visited Chievo Verona this Saturday. Juventus took a hard-fought 2-3 victory coming back from 2-1 behind, in which CR7 failed to score.
All eyes were on Ronaldo with the fans hoping for him to begin his rule over Serie A. He came in strong by already opening the scoring in his last two friendlies against the junior Juventus aspirants.
Although Massimiliano Allegri lined up Ronaldo as the lone striker in front of Costa, Dybala, and Cuadrado, Ronaldo was seen to be given the pass to play free as he's been playing for Madrid and Portugal.
Ronaldo's first real attempt at Goal came at the 18th minute when he connected a direct ground shot from a close linking pass by Cuadrado. The shot went just inches past the goal with the goalkeeper already beaten.
Soon, Ronaldo was into the game doing the Ronaldo things with spectacular skills, flicks, and passes. IOn the 30th minute, he had a left-foot volley attempt that went just over the crossbar.
It was certain that the Verona boys came prepared to ruin Ronaldo's day with the man heavily marked and afforded no room to take a shot at the goal. CR7 wasn't allowed to stand on his feet either. And eventually, Verona were able to make it 1-1 cancelling out Khedira's goal before halftime.
When the second half resumed, Ronaldo was quick to have a go at the goal from outside the box which brought out a fine save from the Verona goalkeeper.
Chievo Verona made Juventus' life difficult but going up 2-1. At 61', Ronaldo's header attempt was cleanly cuddled by the goalkeeper. The scenario would be quite different had the shot been a little away to either side of the goalkeeper.
His best attempt at goal came at 66' minute when he turned around the defenders outside the box and curled towards the far right post. The attempt produced an equally good save from the Chievo goalkeeper.
On 71st minute, he was able to pick out Mandzukic from the left flank whose header effort drifted wide of the post towards the bottom corner.
He was brought down just outside the box at 76'. The freekick was obviously taken by him which was well struck with power on target and well saved by the goalkeeper.
Ronaldo kept running at defenders and helping in the build-ups. Technically, with the heavy marking, Ronaldo still had great moments with the ball. But the goalkeeper happened to have a good day against Ronaldo although he could not keep out the three goals that allowed Juve to take home all the three points.