A word from Chiellini on the bench strips Juventus after Ronaldo's departure

What captain Giorgio Chiellini said from the bench to his old new coach Massimiliano Allegri reflected the situation that Juventus is experiencing at the beginning of the new season of the Italian Football League, not only because of the departure of Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, but also because there is a structural problem in the team that needs to be addressed.

And the Italian media published a video clip on Saturday in the match that Juventus lost at home to Empoli 0-1 in the second stage of the league, showing Allegri talking to Chiellini next to the field with his hand above his mouth, and the captain’s answer to this summer’s European Cup was “This is not a team.” .

Indeed, what Juventus showed in Saturday's match in front of nearly 17,000 grumbling fans at the "Allianz Stadium" confirms that Allegri's task at the beginning of his second adventure with the "old lady" will be very difficult.

Although the season is still in its infancy, it became clear from what Juventus presented that Ronaldo’s departure to his former team, Manchester United, after three seasons he spent in Turin, during which he scored 101 goals in 134 participations in the “Bianconeri” shirt, the last of Allegri’s concerns because the problem is much deeper and warns that the possibility that The team is experiencing a worse season than the previous one when it ceded the league title to Inter Milan and waited until the final stage to decide its ticket to the Champions League by finishing fourth.

After a promising start led by in-form Federico Chiesa, things were turned upside down in Saturday's match after Empoli's goal in the 21st minute, as Juventus then looked like a weak team unable to respond, lost on the pitch.

The crowd's reaction, with the whistles of boos directed at the team during the two-half break and at the end of the match, reflected the state of dissatisfaction with the situation of the team that put the Champions League title as a dream for it, but if the situation continues, restoring the local league title will be its utmost ambition.

And the journalist at the "Football Italia" website, Lorenzo Bitoni, said that many saw Ronaldo as a burden on the Turin giant, especially after he failed to lead him to the Champions League title, and this is only financially true because the Portuguese star and his abilities hid the many defects of the "Old Lady" team in the three seasons. past.

And Bettoni saw that Juventus are sorely missing a playmaker, even with the signing of Sassuolo star Manuel Locatelli, who Allegri intends to give him a liberal midfield role in the 3-3-4 squad.

Allegri tried to involve Brazilian full-back Danilo directly in front of the defense line, but the latter seemed completely lost, according to Betoni, which makes the former Milan coach more determined than ever to return the Bosnian Miralem Pjanic to the Turin giant, who abandoned him to Barcelona in the contract with Brazilian Arthur.

But in order to get Pjanic back, Juventus will have to ease the financial burden by giving up some players in the midfield.

Welshman Aaron Ramsey may be one of the least influential players in the team, which makes him the most likely to leave, but with an annual salary of 7 million euros it will be very difficult for Juventus to reach an agreement with any team to give him up.

It is true that Allegri confirmed his adherence to the young American Weston McKinney, who is of interest to several English clubs, but what he made during the first 45 minutes of Saturday's match behind Argentine strikers Paulo Dybala and Chiesa before being replaced during the two-half break by Spanish striker Alvaro Morata, is not enough to hold on to his services.

What is certain is that the midfield constitutes the main problem for Juventus because it lacks influential players, and even the return of Pjanic or the contract with Belgian Axel Witsel, who was nominated by the media to join the Turin giant in the next few hours, will not solve the problem, but they will provide some solutions to Allegri.

Dybala and the burden of compensating Ronaldo's departure

With the departure of Ronaldo, Dybala will have to rise in particular in order to bear the scoring burden alongside Morata, and what he presented on Saturday showed a great loss of positioning according to the vision of Betoni, who considered that Chiesa was the only player who actually attacked the Empoli goal, but he found himself alone without any support. in the discount area.

What is worrying for Juventus is that Ronaldo scored 29 goals in 33 matches in the Italian league last season, and despite that, the Turin giant was satisfied with fourth place after monopolizing the title for nine consecutive seasons, so what will happen this season without the goals of the best player in the world five times?

It is certain that Juventus did not lose against Empoli because of Ronaldo’s departure, so any team, regardless of its size, is liable to lose, especially at the beginning of the season, but the indicators based on what the team presented last season raise the public’s concern, especially in light of the fierce competition with the return of Inter and its neighbor Milan to something of Their previous level, the continued brilliance of Atalanta and the threat posed by Napoli and Roma, who seem to be a significant competitor under the leadership of their new coach, Jose Mourinho.

Ronaldo's departure was inevitable, if not now, next season, and Juventus was certainly aware that signing the Portuguese star in the summer of 2018 from Real Madrid was for a short-term goal (the Champions League) and not to build for the future (he is currently 36 years old).

But with his departure a year before the expiration of his contract, the Portuguese stripped the Turin giant and sowed fear in his fans, who feared that the team would go through what his opponents Inter and Milan, who missed the podium since 2010 and 2011, respectively, before the first managed to return to it last season by ending the league directly in front of arch neighbour.

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