07.02.2019 » Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 - A year in review (Part 2)
If the first six months of 2018 had been hectic, it was just the lull before the storm for the second-half of the year. Cristiano Ronaldo had hinted that his days at Real Madrid were coming to a close right after the UEFA Champions League final against Liverpool and that proved to be the point. The month of July saw him join Italian Serie A champions Juventus for roughly €100m (£88.3m). Curiously, it was a move that could have happened when he was 18 years-old, had Marcelo Salas agreed to move to Sporting Lisbon...
Cristiano Ronaldo - Skills and goals in 2018/19:
Farewell to Real Madrid
It was an amazing transfer fee for a 33-year-old (now 34) and Cristiano Ronaldo signed a very lucrative four-year contract. He left Real Madrid on good terms and released a statement expressing his "feelings of enormous gratitude" for the Spanish giants.
Juventus dominate Italian football but haven’t won the Champions League for 23 years. With their new star on board, a determined challenge was expected this season. Juventus got off to a great start in their group, but Cristiano Ronaldo hit the headlines for the wrong reasons.
No goals for Ronaldo on his Champions League debut for Juventus, but even worse than that, he was sent off away at Valencia after just 29 minutes. He left the pitch in tears, but when he did make his return, it was an emotional game for him.
Emotional return
On October 23, Cristiano returned to Old Trafford for their away game against Manchester United. He didn't score, but he was highly influential in a 1-0 win. In the reverse fixture, he finally scored his first goal in the Champions League for Juventus, only to see Manchester United score two late goals to win 2-1. The Vecchia Signora did win the group though and secured a return to Madrid for Ronaldo, but to play Atletico Madrid and not his former club Real Madrid.
While Real Madrid have struggled without Cristiano, Juventus have been even more dominant in the Serie A. They only just won the title from Napoli last year, but ended 2018 with an 11-point lead and yet to be beaten. Ronaldo has already scored 17 league goals for his team and it's almost inevitable that 2019 will see him win another league title.
Serious allegations
Life off the pitch in the second-half of the year hasn't been so rosy. The German newspaper "Der Spiegel" published a story in which Kathryn Mayorga claimed she was raped by Ronaldo in 2009. It's known that the pair did meet at a hotel in Las Vegas, but what happened that night is still to be determined.
Cristiano has denied emphatically that he raped Mayorga. He stated the following to his fans, "rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in." As far as he was concerned, the news stories were being published by "people seeking to promote themselves" at his expense.
With the allegations hanging over him, Ronaldo received support from Juventus, but was left out of the Portuguese squad. Hopefully all of this will be resolved this year...
An incredible year for Cristiano Ronaldo, but what does 2019 hold for him? A first Serie A title for starters and possibly a run to the latter stages of the Champions League. Then in the summer, there’s the UEFA Nations League finals to compete in for Portugal.
Author: Steve Ashfield
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Juventus is on February 10 of 2019 against Sassuolo. You can watch Sassuolo vs Juventus, Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid, Betis vs Valencia, Fulham vs Manchester United, Lazio vs Empoli, and Chievo vs AS Roma, all matches provided from our live soccer game pages.
Juventus next game:
Sassuolo vs Juventus kick-off time (10-02-2019):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 01:00
Jakarta (Indonesia) | UTC/GMT+7: 00:00
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 22:30
Italy (Turin) | UTC/GMT+1: 18:00
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 18:00
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 17:00
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 14:00
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 13:00
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 10:00
Sources: ronaldo7.net / realmadrid.com / as.com / independent.co.uk
