Ronaldo the 'future of Juventus,' not leaving after Champions League exit - Allegri

Posted Saturday, April 20, 2019 by ESPN

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has dismissed talk of Cristiano Ronaldo leaving the club in the wake of their Champions League elimination, confirming the 34-year-old will be in Turin still next season.

Ronaldo had played in the semifinals of the Champions League in each of the past nine seasons, but Juve's quarterfinal defeat to Ajax meant he would not be getting his hands on the trophy this year, having triumphed with Real Madrid in the past three seasons.

Italian media reported his disappointment may lead him to seek a new club, but Allegri said he is counting on the Portugal international moving forward.

"Ronaldo's had a great season and he'll play tomorrow," Allegri said at a news conference in Turin on Friday. "He's the future of Juventus; an extraordinary player and he'll have another great season next year.

"He's calm and disappointed like we all are because we're out of the Champions League, and we would have liked to have won it. But football is made of joy and sadness."

Juve are now expected to invest this summer in building a squad around Ronaldo which can challenge for the Champions League next term, with Allegri adding that one player alone does not guarantee success.

"I always said that with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, there was no mathematical assurance of winning the Champions League," he said. "Football is not a science.

"What's been written about Ronaldo confirms that his arrival at Juve did not guarantee us the Champions League. Look at Barcelona, who are back in the semifinals this year after four seasons and they've got [Lionel] Messi. There are lots of components to football.

"If we only win the league, it still means we've had a great season."

The Old Lady need just one point to wrap up an eighth straight Serie A title and welcome Fiorentina to the Allianz Stadium on Saturday.

"I think it's something to be proud about if you're a fan of a club with these kind of statistics," Allegri said. "I expect it to be a party because we can't change the Champions League now and coming to the stadium to be negative and maybe not celebrating would be crazy and, I think, wrong.

"You've always got to celebrate winning trophies. I can't criticise the lads for anything. They've got to be proud and of course a bit disappointed because we wanted to go all the way, but you can't win them all.

"But now we're close to an historic achievement with an eighth Scudetto."