Over the weekend, Cristiano Ronaldo’s name was not on the score sheet for his second game in a row for Juventus.
Ronaldo got his Serie A campaign off to a winning start last weekend, following his $117m move from Real Madrid to Italian giants Juventus.
A few days ago, he made his home debut for Juventus against Lazio.
Juventus won 2-0 in a very difficult game.
While they won, what bothered most Juventus fans was that Ronaldo failed to score again.
For someone who is regarded as the best player in the world alongside Lionel Messi, many football pundits believed that he would have scored at least two goals by now in his new league.
Ronaldo had a phenomenal goal ratio when he was at Real Madrid.
He scored more goals than the number of games he played.
He is the highest goal scorer in the history of Real Madrid.
He boasted that he would conquer Italy but it is evident with his first two games in Serie A that he may not be able to reproduce the magic of La Liga.
Those who are ardent followers of Italian Serie A would not be surprised that Ronaldo has not found the back of the net after two games.
He is in a different league. The Italian league may not be as good or popular as it used to be in the 80’s and the 90’s but they still maintain their tactical football. Italians are known for defending very well. Unlike Spain, whenever Ronaldo is on the ball there are no fewer than two players marking him.
That was the same thing great players before him who plied their trade in Italy faced.
The great Thierry Henry failed to make the first team of Juventus in the mid nineties before signing for Arsenal.
Another French man, Mitchell Platini struggled in his first year in Italy.
German legend, Lothar Matthaus, who spent four years in Italy with Inter Milan, believes Ronaldo will struggle at Juventus.
“The Italian style of play is not for Ronaldo,” he said. “All of the players will be watching him.”
He added that: “The play is more defensive and he has lost speed. What he will never lose, though is his motivation, as he is a unique professional.”
In a similar vein, Inter Milan defender Joao Miranda believes Ronaldo would find it far more difficult to score so many goals in Serie A.
Miranda, who left Atletico Madrid for the Italian club in 2016, experienced four seasons in La Liga and managed to win the competition once.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: Chelsea defeat stubborn Newcastle 2-1
Speaking of Ronaldo and Messi, Miranda said, “They are both fantastic players and would score a lot of goals in every league,” Miranda told Globo Esporte.
“However, here in Italy, they would not arrive in front of the net as often as they do in Spain because teams are a lot more organized tactically.”
Players like Diego Maradona, Zinadene Zidane, Gabriel Batistuta, Ronaldo De Lima, Ricardo Kaka, Goearge Weah to mention but a few played in the Serie A and they all know how difficult it is to perform well there.
In Ronaldo’s last game against Lazio, like his first game against Chievo, he had goal scoring opportunities but most of them were from far distances.
Juventus’ next match will be away to newly promoted Parma. That is another decent side. If the Portuguese fails to score in his third game, the pressure will surely get to him because he was brought to do what he knows how to do best. That is to score goals.
