Juventus FC’s Decline Began With Cristiano Ronaldo

In the end, Juventus FC coach Max Allegri just apologized.

“We are sorry and angry,” he told the media after the Italian giants exited the Champions League with a 4-3 defeat against Benfica, “the team finished well so it’s not a physical matter. We must continue working.”

“We are disappointed […] because we are out of the Champions League. Now we have to focus on the league and also remain focused against Paris [Saint-Germain] because we have at least to book a place in the Europa League.”

Switching attention to the league might be a welcome relief if the club was performing well but, unfortunately for Allegri, form has been just as patchy in Serie A. The club lies in eighth place and 10 points off leaders Napoli.

It was not supposed to go like this.

After the failed experiments with Maurizio Sarri, supposed to bring titles and stylish soccer to Turin, and Andrea Pirlo, an exciting young coach believed capable of building a dynasty, the Bianconeri returned to the man who delivered five straight league titles and two Champions League finals.

But so far Allegri has been unable to rebuild the winning machine that once dominated the Italian league.

It would be unfair, however, to place all the blame at the manager’s door.

As CBS pundit Thierry Henry told viewers after the game, the issues went a lot further. “It’s very difficult to call out a manager,” he said, “I think there’s a lot of problems from top to bottom. It’s not only at the bottom and on the field that things aren’t not going well,

“I said it when Pirlo left. I said it when Sarri left. It’s not a bad coach. You need to be able to coach also. Now what’s happening behind closed doors, we don’t know. But like I said, it takes time sometimes. It’s not because you bring Allegri that it’s going to work.”

So where did Juventus’ problems begin and how did the club go from being an established part of the European elite to a side clinging to the top tier by its fingernails?

Well, there’s a strong argument that the tipping point was the ill-fated signings of one of the world’s greatest players; Cristiano Ronaldo.

The curse of CR7

In the summer of 2018, Juventus decided the way to turn their Champions League near misses into a win was with Cristiano Ronaldo, the player who’d won four of the previous five titles with Real Madrid.

There were, of course, other commercial benefits to bringing in one of the world’s best players, but the feeling was overwhelming that, although $111 million was a large fee for a 33-year-old, the Portuguese megastar was the man who could make the difference.

After all, this side had won seven straight league titles and twice had been 90 minutes from Champions League glory.

In the first season, Ronaldo was the top scorer as Juve made it eight Serie A trophies in a row. But something strange happened in the Champions League.

Despite it looking like the draw was opening up for the Italians after they dispatched Atletico Madrid, the Bianconeri suffered a shock defeat to Ajax in the quarter-finals.

It was strange, Juventus had been in more difficult situations without Ronaldo and come out on top and, in the wake of this defeat manager, Allegri, in his first spell in charge, found himself denying suggestions they were reliant on CR7.

“He has given us a lot over the course of the campaign, but when you reach the quarter-final, you need every player,” he said.

When the end of the season arrived, the leadership at Juventus determined the problem was Allegri and brought in former Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri, a man with a reputation for better soccer that didn’t deliver results.

A ninth successive title was delivered by Sarri, but the feeling Ronaldo might not fit into his high-energy tactical system was beginning to grow. In the Champions League, Juventus lost to Lyon, a side from outside the European elite whose advantage over the Italians was greater cohesion.

This was deemed a failure and Sarri was fired. He has since revealed that CR7’s presence was challenging.

“Ronaldo’s management is not simple, from all points of view,” Sarri said, “he is a multinational company; he has personal interests that must coincide with football.

“His interests go beyond what is normal, beyond the team or club. I am a coach, not a manager. Ronaldo, however, brings the numbers at the end of the year. But in recent years, I hear a lot about players and little about teams.”

After Sarri exited in the summer of 2020 the wheels fell off for Juve. Under Andrea Pirlo, the Bianconeri slumped to a fourth-place Serie A finish and continued its tradition of losing to a lesser side in the Champions League with defeat against Porto in the last-16.

This proved the final straw for Ronaldo who, after three seasons of gradual decline, decided to return to Manchester United.

He left a broken side.

Previous stars, like Paulo Dybala, had regressed and the hefty $71 million annual wages had restricted the club’s ability to strengthen other areas of the team. AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was reportedly keen to join Juve, but the club couldn’t match the wages Paris Saint-Germain offered him while paying for CR7.

Of course, there have been other signings that didn’t pan out during CR7’s time in Turin and the managerial chances were undoubtedly failures too.

But you can’t help but wonder, if Juve had spent those hundreds of millions on the team would it be in a better position now?

Not that Juventus president Andrea Agnelli has any regrets.

“Wrong to take Ronaldo?” he told Corriere dello Sport, “Never. “I would do it again tomorrow.”