Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo reveals that understands the reason he has been substituted in Juventus’ last two games and explained that he has been playing for his club and country while not fully fit.
The attacker further suggested that Juve coach Maurizio Sarri was right to substitute him, even though he was not pleased.
Ronaldo was withdrawn for the in-form Paulo Dybala in their 1-0 win over AC Milan in the Serie A, with the Argentine scoring the winning goal.
The former Real Madrid man reacted angrily to the substitution, his second in a row, and walked down the tunnel to the changing rooms visibly angry.
Sarri later defended him, saying no player loves being substituted and he would be surprised if he acted otherwise.
“In the last three weeks I have been limited,” he told A Bola. “Everyone knows that I don’t like to be substituted, but there was no problem in my gestures after the change. I tried to help Juventus by playing injured,”
“No one likes to be replaced, but I understand it because I wasn’t well in those two games. I wasn’t 100%,”
Cristiano:
"In the last three weeks, I have been playing with limitations,But there was no controversy — you [the media] created that. I tried to help Juventus. Nobody likes to be substituted but I understood because I wasn't in such good shape." pic.twitter.com/s9WJqs4Kz3
— TeamCRonaldo (@TeamCRonaldo) November 18, 2019
Ronaldo returned to action over the international break with Portugal and bagged a hat-trick in a 6-0 win over Lithuania.
He was also on target in their 2-0 victory over Luxembourg, scoring his 99th international goal in the win.
His goals took him to 99 in total for the national team and has the record of most international goals in sight.
The former Real Madrid talisman has shown few signs of injury while on international duty but will now return to club side Juventus and link up with Sarri again.
