Sarri shies away from Ronaldo free-kick issue

Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri won’t replace Cristiano Ronaldo on free-kicks, despite the Portguese star’s dismal record from such situations. Sarri says he will not intervene to stop Ronaldo from barging his way to the front of the queue, ahead of more potent options, when Juventus have future set-piece opportunities around their opponents’ box.
The topic was put up for discussion after the ex-Real Madrid star – recently dubbed the second-worst free-kick taker in Serie A history – wasted two more attempts during Juve’s 2-1 Champions League win over against Lokomotiv Moscow on Tuesday.
Fans of the Old Lady were up in arms that the club’s two other expert free kick specialists – Miralem Pjanic and Paulo Dybala – regularly stand to the side when Ronaldo lines up a set-piece.
And the statistics don’t make for good reading for the Portuguese star because, according to Calciomercato, Ronaldo has taken 28 free kicks for Juventus since he joined the club before the start of last season and failed to score with any of them.
They state that seven were saved, two missed the target and a remarkable 19 went straight into the wall.
But Sarri paid little attention to the problem when asked about it his pre-match news conference ahead of Juventus’ Serie A clash with Lecce. “The free kicks? We have two right-footed options on the pitch: him (Pjanic) and Ronaldo. So they will have to decide among themselves who takes them, as happens in just about any other side,” said the ex-Chelsea boss.
The free-kick woes of Ronaldo, who praised Sarri earlier this week, in Italy mirror those he had for Portugal where he failed with his first 44 attempts at European Championship and World Cup tournaments before finally breaking his duck in the 3-3 draw with Spain at Russia 2018.