Former Italy International, Antonio Cassano, has slated Cristiano Ronaldo for his perceived selfishness after Juventus were defeated by Porto in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 clash.
Andrea Pirlo’s men suffered their third straight defeat at the Estadio do Dragao on Wednesday night, a 2-1 loss which was characterized by errors from Juventus players.
Rodrigo Bentancur played a poor back pass to his goalkeeper in the opening minute of the game which was punished by Mehdi Taremi. The Old Lady would suffer another lapse in attention 15 seconds into the second period when Moussa Marega doubled the lead.
Federico Chiesa pulled one back for the visitors but the disjointed Italians could not muster a fightback.
Cristiano Ronaldo was kept quiet on return to his homeland and his only incident of note was a penalty appeal waived off by the referee in the dying minutes. As Juve lost their third game in a row.
The Portuguese superstar was remonstrating with the officials after full-time following the alleged foul by Nigeria’s Zaidu Sanusi. Ronaldo has now been criticized by a former Serie A marksman for failing to adapt to his new manager’s playing style.
‘I have always said, considering that he’s a phenomenon and has scored a billion goals, that it could be difficult with Andrea Pirlo’s idea of football,’ Cassano said.
‘He scores a goal per game, it’s true, but struggles with the ideas of Andrea. He has always been a bit selfish, he doesn’t care about others scoring goals, he’s the kind of player who lives to score.
‘He doesn’t live for the play, the great match, he lives for the goal and at this moment, the situation is getting worse.
‘Years go by for everyone and he is having difficulties. Juventus are trying to change their ideas and play a different type of football, due to the qualities of Ronaldo.’
Ronaldo and teammates would be grateful for the away goal which gives them a fighting chance to regroup for the home leg next month.
