‘This was the thing. The idea that one player, even the best in the world, could guarantee Juventus victory.
Leonardo Bonucci sounds warning to Manchester United players over Cristiano Ronaldo’s negative impact at Juventus
Bonucci has issued a note of caution regarding the effect Ronaldo can have on the rest of the team, saying that Juventus became too reliant on the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and let their standards in training and matches slip.
Juventus’ Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo (L) celebrates with Juventus’ Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match Juventus vs Sassuolo on January 10, 2021 at the Juventus stadium in Turin. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Asked if signing Ronaldo meant some Juve players got complacent, Bonucci told The Athletic: ‘This was the thing. The idea that one player, even the best in the world, could guarantee Juventus victory.
‘Cristiano’s presence had a big influence on us.
Just training with him gave us something extra but subconsciously players started to think his presence alone was enough to win games.
We began to fall a little short in our daily work, the humility, the sacrifice, the desire to be there for your teammate day after day. Over the last few years, I think you could see that.
‘Last season, we finished fourth and won the Coppa Italia because we became a team again.
‘If you had thrown a piece of wood in the dressing room before those games it would have caught fire such was the electricity running through it. We missed that.
Maybe it was taken for granted that if we gave the ball to Cristiano he’d win us the game.
‘But Cristiano needed the team as much as we needed him. There had to be a trade-off because it’s the team that lifts the individual even if the individual is the best player on the planet.’
Bonnuci is not the only Juventus legend to question the impact Ronaldo had on the team, Bonnuci teammate Gianlugi Buffon also claimed that the squad lost their desire to work hard for one another.
“Juventus had the chance to win the Champions League the first year he arrived, which was the year I was at Paris Saint-Germain, and I couldn’t figure out what happened,” Buffon told TUDN.
” When I returned, I worked with Ronaldo for two years and we did well together, but I think Juventus lost that DNA of being a team.
“We reached the Champions League final in 2017 because we were a side full of experience, but above all we were a single unit and there was this competition for places within the group that was very strong. We lost that with Ronaldo.”
Cristiano Ronaldo has saved United in most of the matches he played this season. But wait, isn’t this the reason for having one of the greatest player of all time? Yes! But over reliance on one player isn’t good and football is a team sport.
In either scenario, Manchester United is lucky enough to have Ronaldo to bail him out.