Juventus made it two wins out of two in Serie A with a 2-0 defeat of Lazio in Turin but the champions have yet to get the best out of their star man
“Italian football and our defences are different from Spain,” Pierluigi Casiraghi argued during an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport the week.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is here to win, but I don’t think he can get 40 goals like in La Liga.”
At the moment, he’d settle for one. As it is, his stunning overhead kick remains his most recent goal in a Juventus match.
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He does have his first Serie A assist, though. Not that he knew much about it.
With Juventus leading Lazio through Miralem Pjanic’s technically terrific volley, Ronaldo looked set to tap in a low cross from Joao Cancelo in the 74th minute.
However, goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha got a touch on the ball, deflecting the ball onto Ronaldo’s trailing leg before it ricocheted inviting up into the air off his standing foot for Mario Mandzukic to smash home.
It was such a bizarre moment that even Ronaldo couldn’t help but smile.
The frustration was obvious, though; among the fans too.
Just over four months after their significant show of support for the Portuguese’s goal against their side, Juventus supporters had packed out the Allianz Stadium in the expectation that he would this time score one for their side.
He certainly came close, drawing a fantastic save out of Strakosha with a powerful strike from outside of the area.
However, what was concerning was how few openings he had inside the area. Indeed, he had just one touch in the Lazio box during an opening half that ended with Lazio rather unfortunately trailing.
Just as they had seven days previously in Verona, though, Juve improved after the break and, again, substitutions played their part.
Federico Bernardeschi proved Juve’s match-winner against Chievo but, after being rewarded with a start against Lazio, he failed to impress and was replaced by Douglas Costa early in the second half.
The Brazilian injected some life into an otherwise lacklustre performance from the reigning Italian champions and while Lazio had several spells of pressure, Juve merited their killer second goal.
It was just reward for Mandzukic too, with the Croat justifying his inclusion in the starting line-up ahead of the dropped Paulo Dybala with his energy and physicality.
The focus, though, will obviously be on Ronaldo and the fact that he remains goal-less after two Serie A games.
However, he has performed well in both outings, denied only be a combination of excellent goalkeeping and bad luck.
Of greater concern to Bianconeri boss Massimiliano Allegri will be Juve’s inability to get the ball to him with greater regularity.
Italian defences may well be better than Spanish but Ronaldo needs to be provided with more opportunities to prove otherwise.