Published: April 22, 2021 4:05 pm
Last Updated: April 22, 2021 4:43 pm
Juventus manager Andrea Pirlo has spoken out, amid fresh criticism aimed in the direction of star man Cristiano Ronaldo.
Sandro at the double
Juve were of course back in action on Wednesday night.
The Bianconeri, fresh off the back of another damaging defeat at the hands of Atalanta, welcomed Parma to the Allianz Stadium, aware that nothing but all three points would suffice.
And, when the 90 minutes were said and done, secure a bounce-back victory is precisely what Pirlo and co. managed.
Alex Sandro proved the surprise star of the show, bagging a brace either side of the interval to cancel out Gaston Brugman’s early strike:
A well-taken equaliser by Alex Sandro! ?
Lovely control and finish and Juve are level ⚫⚪ pic.twitter.com/rCQh2GGKGg
— Premier Sports ? (@PremierSportsTV) April 21, 2021
Fellow Old Lady stopper Matthijs de Ligt then stepped up from the back to nod home the hosts’ 3rd a little over twenty minutes from time, killing off any remaining hope on the part of a game Parma side:
Matthijs de Ligt heads in for Juve’s third! ?
A good response to going behind early on from Pirlo’s side ⚫⚪ pic.twitter.com/68lDgI17W4
— Premier Sports ? (@PremierSportsTV) April 21, 2021
‘These things happen’
As outlined above, though, whilst Juventus, in the end, got the job done on Wednesday, their third win in four actually only came after the Turin giants fell behind early on.
The goal in question came in spectacular fashion, when Brugman lashed home a free-kick from 25 yards:
Parma take the lead against Juventus thanks to an absolute screamer! ?
A perfect free kick by Gaston Brugman ? pic.twitter.com/aAF7rV0YuU
— Premier Sports ? (@PremierSportsTV) April 21, 2021
Upon replays of the Parma midfielder’s effort being broadcast, however, it quickly became evident that the ball had only made its way over the Juve wall due to one Bianconeri star’s failure to jump.
The player in question? Cristiano Ronaldo.
Did Cristiano Ronaldo duck in the wall for Parma’s goal vs Juventus? ? pic.twitter.com/u84YLCr58u
— Goal (@goal) April 21, 2021
This is not the first time that the Portuguese superstar has been accused of ducking his responsibilities as part of a Juventus wall of late, after Ronaldo turned his back on the Sergio Oliveria free-kick which eventually resulted in the Italian champions being sent packing from the Champions League by Porto.
In turn, speaking during his post-match press conference last night, Andrea Pirlo was unsurprisingly drawn on the subject of his star man’s defensive duties.
And the Italian, after first simply assuring that ‘these things happen’, went on to hint that he may soon be forced to remove Ronaldo from his position in Juve’s wall:
‘Unfortunately these things happen, we will evaluate what to do in the next matches and whether to put him in the wall.’
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This article was edited by
Robert Fosterman.
