Juventus

A blockbuster Champions League encounter between Italian champions Juventus and Valencia — fourth place finishers in LaLiga — descended into farce when Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off 29 minutes into his UCL debut with the Old Lady. 

Ronaldo had been active and involved throughout the early proceedings, and Juventus really should’ve taken the lead through either Mario Mandzukic or Sami Khedira, but both put close range shots over the bar in the game’s opening period.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League debut with Juventus lasted all of 29 minutes at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium. With Juventus in possession of the ball out wide in Valencia’s third, Ronaldo made a run into the box before play was stopped with both Valencia and Juventus players remonstrating and gesticulating wildly. 

After a short break, German referee Felix Brych consulted the official behind the goal, and he looked adamant that Ronaldo deserved to be sent off for his actions. Brych duly obliged while Ronaldo went hysterical.  

Maybe Douglas Costa doesn’t like sharing the spotlight with Cristiano Ronaldo? How else do you explain the shocking events that unfolded in the lead-up to the Douglas Costa red card on Sunday?

Ronaldo scored his first and second Juventus goals against Sassuolo on Sunday. The first was a simple tap-in but the second was pretty good. 

It took Cristiano 322 minutes, more than three full matches, for the first Ronaldo Juventus goal to finally arrive. It took 15 more minutes for the second. 

But that first one ... it was a bit of a dud, though that didn’t stop the Juventus fans (and Ronaldo himself) from celebrating like they had just clinched the league title.

Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. set the Italian youth league on fire this weekend, bagging four goals in the Juventus U-9’s 5-1 win against Lucento. The youngster, repping the No. 7 shirt of course, notched two goals in each half, darting past the legs of outstretched defenders in seamless fashion, much in the way his old man does.

In some respects, it was the goal that sparked Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus. Now it’s been named the UEFA Goal of the Season 2017-18, and there was never really any doubt.

For all the goals scored by the likes of Liverpool, Barcelona and Manchester City in the Champions League, no goal quite compared to the Cristiano Ronaldo bicycle kick against Juventus. 

Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t score and he even put an opponent in the hospital during his debut with Juventus on Saturday. But Ronaldo’s mere presence in Serie A spiked TV ratings in his new country.