Maurizio Sarri refuses to take Cristiano Ronaldo off free-kick duty at Juventus, despite him failing to score from 28 attempts since joining the club
- Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to score with all 28 of his free-kick attempts at Juve
- There are two other free-kick specialists at the club, Pjanic and Paulo Dybala
- However, boss Maurizio Sarri says it is up to the players to decide who will take
Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri will not intervene to stop Cristiano Ronaldo taking free-kicks within scoring range, he said Friday, despite the Portuguese forward’s dismal record for the Turin side.
According to the website Calciomercato, Ronaldo has taken 28 free-kicks for Juventus since he joined the club before the start of last season and failed to score with any of them in a competitive match. Seven were saved, two missed the target and a remarkable 19 went straight into the wall.
He wasted two more attempts during Tuesday’s Champions League match against Lokomotiv Moscow, prompting a wave of criticism on social media and in Juventus blogs, especially as the team has two other expert free-kick specialists – Miralem Pjanic and Paulo Dybala.
Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to score from 28 free-kick attempts since joining Juventus
However, Maurizio Sarri says he will not take him off free-kick duty, leaving it up to the players
Ronaldo has scored one free-kick for the club, but it was in the International Champions Cup pre-season tournament. The ball ended up in the back of the net after his effort was deflected off the wall.
Sarri gave little attention to the problem when asked about it at a news conference on Friday.
‘The free-kicks? We have two right-footed options on the pitch: him (Pjanic) and Ronaldo. So they will have to decide among themselves who takes them, as happens in just about any other side,’ he said.
The 34-year-old had a similarly poor record with Portugal, failing with his first 44 attempts at European Championship and World Cup tournaments before finally breaking his duck in the 3-3 draw with Spain at the World Cup last year.
Of his 28 attempts, seven were saved, two missed the target and 19 went straight into the wall
He has a similarly poor record for Portugal after failing with his first 44 attempts for his country
Juventus, who lead Serie A with 22 points out of a possible 24 and are still unbeaten since Sarri took over in the close season, visit promoted Lecce on Saturday.
Sarri said that Ronaldo would have to rest at some point, but could not say when.
‘Even he will have to take a break, but I don’t know when,’ said the coach. ‘I speak to him every day, about how he feels on the pitch and (about) the numbers that come from the doctors and fitness coaches at the end of the match. We will make the decision based on how he feels.’