Former Italy Alessandro forward Del Piero thinks had it not been the contribution of Cristiano Ronaldo it would have been tough for Real Madrid to secure three consecutive Champions League titles.
Juventus splashed a mammoth £100m to rope in Ronaldo this summer as the Bianconeri are eyeing a good run in the Champions League. The Italian champions came very close towards lifting the trophy back in 2015 and 2017 but each time they were outplayed by two Spanish teams Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
Juventus have made the Serie-A their own fortress having won the title consecutive seven times but this time their main target is to stamp their authority in the big stage, Champions League.
Del Piero said, “Even if the coach’s merit in winning titles is greater than the players, I don’t think there is any coach more important than CR7 and I say that even though I think Zizou [Zidane] did an extraordinary job — above all expectations.
“He’s an extraordinary champion and has the mentality that only the greatest sportspeople have, and he will know how to make it contagious.”
On being asked who is the favourites in the Champions League the former Juventus striker answered, “Real Madrid are on the first row, obviously since they’ve won three in a row, even if they’ve lost Ronaldo.
“On the second row, there are Juve, [Manchester] City and PSG, then on the third row there’s Barcelona, Bayern [Munich] and Liverpool.
“I hope to see [all four Italian clubs involved in the round-of-16] and it is possible but, with a bit more realism, I would have to say I’d be happy if three of them went through and another went into the Europa League. Napoli have the toughest group.”
