European club football’s greatest goal scorer ever Cristiano Ronaldo – plunderer of a record 134 Champions League goals – will play in the continent’s second tier competition, the Europa League next season unless Juventus rediscover their form in time to arrest a mini slump and results elsewhere go their way. The dethroned Serie A champions have won just four of their last nine league games to drop out of the Top Four places that guarantee qualification into Europe’s premier club competition.
The Bianconeri’s latest setback was Sunday’s 0-3 reverse at the hands of fierce rivals AC Milan that saw them drop to fifth place, three points behind second placed Atalanta Bergamo and AC Milan, and a point less than Napoli in fourth. Worryingly for Old Lady fans, Andrea Pirlo’s nine-time defending champions have a tougher run in than their rivals for a Champions League slot. They face free scoring Sassuolo on Tuesday; confront Antonio Conte’s newly crowned champions Inter Milan on Saturday, before closing the season away to unpredictable Bologna.
Juventus’ principal source of comfort is that two of their rivals, Atalanta and AC Milan, will take points off each other when they clash on the final day of the season at the San Siro. Otherwise, Gian Piero Gasperini’s Bergamo-based side have two winnable rubbers at home to troubled Benevento and away to Genoa. Stefano Pioli’s AC Milan meanwhile face a difficult trip to the Stadio Olimpico Grande in Torino tomorrow, before hosting Cagliari over the weekend. Napoli’s three remaining fixtures see them host Udinese and travel to Fiorentina, before closing out at home to Hellas Verona.
The Bianconeri’s problem is over dependence on Ronaldo. Although CR7 is Serie A’s leading target man with 27 goals, six more than Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku, Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlaovic and Atalanta’s Luis Muriel; the Bianconeri generally don’t win when he doesn’t score. Pirlo is be hoping CR7 can get more help from the supporting cast of Paulo Dybala, Federico Chiesa and Alvaro Morata. The coach has already received the dreaded vote of confidence from the Juventus board. Speculation is mounting that unless he delivers maximum points in the club’s remaining fixtures, his job will go to five-time titlist Massimiliano Allegri.
TUESDAY
Napoli v Udinese
WEDNESDAY
Cagliari v Fiorentina,
Atalanta v Benevento,
Sampdoria v Spezia,
Torino v AC Milan,
Inter Milan v AS Roma,
Sassuolo v Juventus,
Bologna v Genoa,
Lazio v Parma
THURSDAY
Crotone v Hellas Verona
