Last Saturday, Antonio Cassano sparked controversy in Italian football with explosive statements. “I think he has failed,” said the ex-footballer of Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance at Juventus.
According to him, the idea of signing the Portuguese was the result of an imperious desire to win the Champions League, a title that the Bianconera side recently missed in 2015 and 2017. Things haven’t changed with CR7 over the past two years.
Could everything Cristiano does be classified as “failure”? Here we show you his numbers and achievements since he left his beloved Real Madrid to start a new adventure in his career.
El Bambino argued in the media that with Ronaldo on the track “they were doing worse than before” in the top European league. The three most recent editions of the match, without Cristiano apparently, showed a balance of elimination in the round of 16 (2015-16), runners-up (2016-17) and elimination in the quarters (2017-18); the other two with the Portuguese have finished in the quarter-finals (2018-19), eighth (2019-20) and are currently in the round of 16 against Porto (a match they lost 1-2 in the first leg).
So, in terms of results, you could say it goes smoothly. It remains to be seen what can happen this season. The need for the title is of course non-negotiable.
On the other hand, it is worth describing the influence of Portuguese in each of the two editions he played. In 18-19, he scored six of the 14 goals his team scored in the tournament, almost 50% of the production. He was also a big hero in the round of 16 bracket against Atlético de Madrid with a triplet (3-2 overall) and scored the only two goals for his team in the tie against Ajax (2-3 overall). Absolutely nothing to fault.
The following season, his goalscorer production dropped to four goals in eight games, but he appeared in the second round with a double against Lyon, but they didn’t reach a goal difference. So it can be said without any problem that he has complied with scoring cases. He appeared in the direct elimination hooks with at least two goals, which few footballers managed, and he was his club’s MVP in those games.
Cassano’s other argument is that “Cristiano doesn’t fit the ideas of Andrea (Pirlo),” a situation he compared to Maurizio Sarri, and in that sense, “he doesn’t participate … he did it fatally these three years.”
Analyzing Cristiano’s statistics in previous seasons, the example of his participation and influence is shown.
In the 2018/19 season, he scored 28 goals and provided 10 assists, that is, he generated 38 goals in 43 games. He finished fourth in the scoring table and fifth in the assistant table. Also, of course, to score the only goal in the Super League performance that year.
He finished 19-20 with an average of 0.8 goals per game, the product of 37 goals and five goal passes in 46 games. In the league, he scored 31 of the 76 goals for his team, almost half of his own!
At the moment his performance, under the direction of Andrea Pirlo, continues. He has 26 goals and three assists in 29 games, a situation that gives him a guaranteed direct participation in every Juventus match. All this with 36 years old.
So during these three years at the ‘Vecchia Signora’, CR7 has directly participated in 109 goals (scoring 91 and assisting 18) in the 118 games they have played. If that participated little, what would it be like if you participated a lot.
Based on all of the above, it is undeniable that the Portuguese star’s big debt goes through the titles as he is something collective. Is clear. But if we analyze his individual performance, there is no doubt that he committed offense and gave the team a leap in quality. Perhaps that last gear, the overall responsibility of the on-duty coach, is lacking, so that his scoring gluttony complements a solid, organized, and effective system.