Ebene News – UA – Cristiano Ronaldo carries the burden of Juventus’ Champions League dream

In the years that followed, the Turin club lost five finals, the last time when Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in a 4-1 win for Real Madrid in 2017

A year after that night in Cardiff, Juventus have made a huge statement to the world that they will no longer settle for second place: they have signed Ronaldo

When the Portuguese landed in Turin in the summer of 2018, the club had won seven straight Serie A titles and four Coppa Italias in a row

Juve had proven that they didn’t need an incredibly high-paid superstar to dominate domestically, but there was hope he could take them to the next level in Europe, and for good reasons

Ronaldo has won the Champions League five times and is the competition’s all-time top scorer with 134 goals

Two and a half years later, Juventus are still waiting for their transformation into a Champions League superpower

In Ronaldo’s debut season, Massimiliano Allegri’s side were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Ajax Amsterdam

The coach left and his successor Maurizio Sarri could only guide them to a final elimination at 16 against Olympique Lyonnais, a result which saw him sacked the next day

Now Andrea Pirlo is hoping to get lucky for the third time, with the rookie coach set to supervise his first European playoff game in Portugal, Ronaldo’s home country, against Porto on Wednesday

Juve’s recent fights in the round of 16 were not due to the lack of effort of their great 36-year-old

Ronaldo has scored the club’s seven goals in the round of 16 since arriving in Italy: a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid and two against Ajax in 2018-19, and two against Lyon in 2019-20

Ronaldo is also the record holder of the Champions League round of 16 goals, with 67 strikes in 81 games – 20 more than Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, second

Age does not seem to be of concern to the forward, who is having another prolific season for Juventus with 23 goals in 26 appearances in all competitions

But with his contract expiring at the end of next season, time is running out in Juventus’ efforts to harness the power of the competition’s most prolific player

UEFA Champions League, Juventus FC, Cristiano Ronaldo, FC Porto, Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla FC