Good Signs For Injured Ronaldo Ahead Of Ajax Champions League Clash
5th April 2019
He was rested in the subsequent 2-0 league defeat at Genoa and then picked up a thigh injury on international duty with Portugal last week
- Cristiano Ronaldo could be back in the Juventus line-up in time for their Champions League quarter-final with Ajax, coach Massimiliano Allegri revealed on Friday
- Ronaldo hasn't played for the runaway Serie A leaders since scoring the sensational hat-trick that saw Juve come back from a 2-0 first-leg deficit to knock out Atletico Madrid last month
- Juve are 18 points clear of nearest challengers Napoli having lost just once this season and will win their eighth title in a row with seven matches to spare at the weekend if they beat Milan and Napoli lose to Genoa
ROME, Italy- Cristiano
Ronaldo could be back in the Juventus line-up in time for their Champions
League quarter-final with Ajax, coach Massimiliano Allegri revealed on Friday.
Ronaldo hasn't played for the runaway Serie A leaders since
scoring the sensational hat-trick that saw Juve come back from a 2-0 first-leg
deficit to knock out Atletico Madrid last month.
He was rested in the subsequent 2-0 league defeat at Genoa
and then picked up a thigh injury on international duty with Portugal last
week, but Allegri is confident the 34-year-old will be ready for Wednesday's
first leg in Amsterdam.
"There are good signals from Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of
the match with Ajax," he said to reporters ahead of Saturday's visit of
fourth-placed AC Milan.
Ronaldo will however not be ready for Milan, who are
battling to qualify for next season's Champions League, after missing recent
wins over Empoli and Cagliari, the latter of which was overshadowed by racist
abuse directed at young Italy striker Moise Kean.
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Kean's Juve and Italy teammate Leonardo Bonucci was heavily
criticised in the aftermath of that match for saying that Kean was as to blame
for the monkey chants to which he was subjected as the Cagliari supporters,
comments for which he apologised on Thursday.
"Racism must always be fought against. It can never be
justified," said Allegri.
"Bonucci, with his mind still on the game, expressed
himself badly but immediately apologised and explained what he meant."
Juve are 18 points clear of nearest challengers Napoli
having lost just once this season and will win their eighth title in a row with
seven matches to spare at the weekend if they beat Milan and Napoli lose to
Genoa.
Should they win it either this weekend or next it would be
the earliest any team has ever won Serie A, and would allow them to focus even
more on winning their first Champions League since 1996.
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"We'll only celebrate when we win the title. Winning
eight in a row is never easy, in particular with these numbers," said
Allegri, who has won four straight league and cup doubles with Juve and taken
them to two Champions League finals.
"Napoli are having a season with what would often be
title-winning form, but we're doing something extraordinary."