Andrea Pirlo has conceded he may be forced to take Cristiano Ronaldo out of Juventus’ free-kick walls, after the Portuguese superstar cost the Italian side yet again.
During Juventus’ 3-1 victory over Parma in midweek, their opponents took a surprise lead when Gaston Brugman curled an inch perfect set-piece past goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
But, upon closer inspection, it was clear to see that Ronaldo appeared to move out of the way of the ball.
The mistake comes just six weeks after the Portugal international came under-fire for doing the same thing during their disappointing Champions League exit to Porto.
On that occasion, Sergio Oliveira’s strike from distance found the net after Ronaldo appeared to move away from the strike.
Former Juventus manager Fabio Capello was highly critical of the player in the post-match analysis, labelling the moment as ‘unforgivable’.
“That was an unforgivable error. In my day, you chose the players who went into the wall and they couldn’t be someone afraid of the ball,” he said last after the Porto game.
“They were scared of the ball and jumped away from it, turning their backs. That’s unforgivable.”
- Real Madrid give permission to Raphael Varane to join Chelsea or Man Utd
- Timo Werner rates Tuchel’s system & tactical approach at Chelsea
- Madrid president, Perez blames one English team for Super League collapse
And after the latest error, Pirlo has said that he will have to decide whether to leave him out of the wall altogether.He said: “Unfortunately, these things happen. “But we’ll evaluate (his role at free-kicks) over the next few days.”
The mistake brings more criticism into Juventus’ decision to sign the 36-year-old forward in the first place. The Serie A giants paid over £99m to lure him away from Real Madrid in 2018, hoping he would help them win the Champions League.
Despite his arrival however, Juve are yet to make it past the quarter finals, losing to Ajax, Lyon and Porto in the last three seasons.
