The unstoppable

Rome, July 27

It’s no exaggeration to say that Cristiano Ronaldo had more of an impact on Juventus’ record-extending ninth straight Serie A title than anyone else.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner matched a record by scoring in 11 straight league matches before the break for the coronavirus pandemic and quickly regained his form during the restart by reaching the 30-goal mark after only 30 games in his second season in Italy.

Hot streak

With nine back-to-back titles, Juventus have the longest streak in Europe’s top five leagues. Bayern Munich recently won the Bundesliga for the eighth straight time. The longest top-flight streak in Europe is 14, set by Latvia’s Skonto (1991-2004) and Gibraltar’s Lincoln (2003-16).

For his 31st goal, Ronaldo scored the opener when Juventus beat Sampdoria 2-0 yesterday to seal the title with two games to spare.

Ronaldo needs only one more goal to break a tie for the Juventus single-season record for league goals set by Felice Borel in 1933-34.

Ronaldo’s 10 goals after the lockdown are more than any other player has scored in Europe’s top five leagues, with Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling each scoring nine.

Sarri’s system

The one major criticism surrounding Juventus’s previous eight titles was that the team wasn’t pretty to watch. The first three titles won under Antonio Conte and then the next five under Massimiliano Allegri involved teams characterised for their suffocating defence and timely counterattacks. First-year coach Sarri was expected to install his eye-opening system of swift passing and offensive wizardry. But with individual stars like Ronaldo, Dybala and Higuain able to decide matches on their own, the consensus is that “Sarriball” hasn’t quite been fully implemented in Turin yet.

“Records are always important, but the important thing is that the team wins,” Ronaldo said. “These things are nice, but the scoring title is a natural process that comes as a consequence of scoring to win games for the team.”

At 35, Ronaldo has started every match since the restart.

“He has this incredible ability to recover,” Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri said. “I think it’s just in his DNA, his ability to project himself on to the next goal, every time. His mental and physical recovery rate is definitely unique.”

Ronaldo has developed an effective partnership with Paulo Dybala during the restart. “We might have some moments in a game where we don’t cover the penalty area to perfection, but everything is compensated by their individual strength,” Sarri said. “We’re talking about two players who combined to score 41 goals this season. That’s a world-class level.” — AP