Why Cristiano Ronaldo is doing more harm than good to Juventus this season
Cristiano Ronaldo shocked the football world when he decided to end his nine-year spell at Real Madrid by joining Juventus last summer. The Portuguese megastar had a wonderful career at the Spanish club and won virtually everything there.
Many regard him as one of the best players to have ever stepped on the football pitch as he has thus far won no less than five Ballon d'Or awards and five Champions League titles throughout his illustrious career.
After a slow start in Turin, Ronaldo quickly established himself as one of Serie A's deadliest forwards. He also became Juventus' savior in the Champions League as his sensational hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the Round of 16 sent the Old Lady through to the quarter-finals.
Surprisingly, Juventus' performance record state that the 34-year-old might be doing more harm than good for the Italian team. Here we will take a look at why the megastar failed to make Juventus better than last season.
Juventus' overall stats have been worse since his arrival
The Old Lady managed to rack up 95 points in the Serie A last season, with Napoli putting up a huge fight in the title race. Napoli have not been that impressive this season as Carlo Ancelotti's men only managed to snatch 79 points with a game remaining.
Juventus, however, couldn't capitalize on the situation as Massimiliano Allegri's men has managed 90 points with a game on hand, following Ronaldo's arrival. The team also scored just 70 times this term, 16 goals fewer than what they managed in the previous campaign.
Despite Ronaldo contributing 21 goals and eight assists, the team's overall goalscoring capabilities have seen a considerable decline. Juventus have also conceded four more goals compared to the 2017-18 season and Ronaldo's weak defensive contributions might be the reason behind that.
He attracts too much attention
Perhaps Gareth Bale was right when the Welshman said that Real Madrid became more of a team after Ronaldo's departure. Now, Juventus know how it feels to become a one-man team after the Portuguese arrived last season.
Last season, the Italian champions had several stars who could step up when the team needed a goal. Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain and Sami Khedira all contributed considerably to Juventus' goalscoring tally. Unfortunately, this season, several Juventus stars have become sacrificial lambs, with Ronaldo stealing the spotlight.
Ronaldo's Juventus team-mates also seem to have done everything to serve him as the former Manchester United star has an average of 5.7 shots per game, higher than any other Serie A player.
In the end, Juventus' over-reliance to Ronaldo, coupled with the Portuguese's abysmal goal conversion rate has resulted in the club's decline. The team are also under added pressure due to the fans' expectations of Ronaldo.
He is not worth the combined presence of Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain
Juventus have sacrificed so much for Ronaldo to a point where the team do not have any reliable goalscorers aside from the former Real Madrid star. Hence, the team suffered a lot when the 34-year-old did not perform as expected.
To make room for Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain was sent out on loan to AC Milan last summer, with the striker currently being on loan at Chelsea, while Paulo Dybala has failed to perform well in the presence of the former Real Madrid star.
Ronaldo might be better than the Argentine duo in terms of individual quality, but his goal contribution stats reveal that he is no match for Dybala and Higuain's combined productivity.
The Argentine pair contributed a total of 38 goals and provided 11 assists for the team last campaign, which was considerably higher than Ronaldo's 29-goal involvements for Juventus this season. Hence, Juventus might need much more than just Ronaldo if they want to conquer Europe once more.