“Some players suffer playing with Cristiano; Dybala is one of them…”

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Former Juve midfielder Marco Tardelli discussed the Old Lady’s Champions League exit last week and Ronaldo’s role in the side.

Juventus clinched their eighth successive Serie A title at the weekend, yet most of the talk in Italy still revolves around their Champions League exit at the hands of Ajax. The Dutch side’s vim and verve in victory has grabbed the headlines since last Tuesday and the latest person to discuss Juve’s elimination is former midfielder Marco Tardelli, who played for the club betweeen 1975 and 1985, making 259 appearances and scoring 35 goals.

Suffering

“Juventus need to work on managing the squad. Maybe Cristiano Ronaldo has played too much this year, but he is the one who commands. Against Ajax he could have done even more. Some players give less playing with Ronaldo and, subconsciously, suffer playing alongside him. Dybala is one of those players,” Tardelli told Rai Sport.

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Next season

Since Juve were knocked out against the Dutch side there have been numerous reports in Italy that Portuguese goal machine would not be at the club next season, prompting Ronaldo to refute the claim. “I’m very happy. We were not able to win the Champions League, but we will do better next year”, he said. Asked again whether he would be staying at the club, he replied “1,000 percent”.

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