Cristiano Ronaldo is more than just a goalscorer

It has not taken so long for Cristiano Ronaldo to settle in at Juventus. There was huge roar at Allianz Stadium when the Portuguese International slotted twice past Sampdoria’s shot-stopper Emil Audero on Saturday to keep the unbeaten record going.

Currently, he is the top scorer in the Serie A with 14 goals this term, providing another 8 assists to his teammates. These stats are staggering, but his role at Old Lady has currently changed, from being a goalscorer to a wide man.

 

The heat map suggests that the Juventus forward is drifting down wide to help out his teammates. Besides, his contribution to the final third is not going to be explicable as comes to his team’s aid more often than not.

There have been plenty of talks about his position, but the amount of movements he has made to get into the box score these much amounts of goals is mind-boggling.

During his time at Real Madrid under Zinedine Zidane, the Portuguese International was the focal point and the Los Blancos used him as a lethal man upfront to bag plenty of goals. But, his role has changed at Juventus.

By netting 14 goals this term, he becomes the Portuguese top scorer in the Italian top division. Adding to this, Juventus’ century goal of the year was scored by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Juventus manager Massimilano Allegri described the 33-year-old summer signing from Real Madrid as “the best player in the world.” following the brace against Sampdoria.

After receiving the man of the match award, Ronaldo said  “The first half of the season has gone really well. We’ve won nearly all our games and we’re a solid side but there’s still a long way to go. We must stay focused and keep working away if we want to achieve great things.”

For the first time in the last eight years, the Juventus forward has failed to score 50 goals in a calendar year. Despite failing to reach that mark, these stats are staggering for a 33-year-old.

Following the winter break, the Old Lady will be in action against Bologna away from home on January 12th.