It was something that French coach, Zinedine Zidane, did last year at Real Madrid, and now Juventus coach, Massimiliano Allegri, also plans to rotate Cristiano Ronaldo during the season.
The Italian is delighted to work with a player who, he stressed, built his successes based on work and sacrifice.
“It will also happen that Cristiano will need to recover his energy and start on the bench, as he did last year in Madrid,” Allegri said at the press conference before the league match against Lazio. “Now he will play, then we will see depending on the moment.”
The Portuguese will debut this Saturday in front of his new supporters at the Allianz Stadium, a venue where, last April, he scored a wonderful overhead kick that caused a long standing ovation from the Juve fans.
“I think that after that goal by Cristiano in the Champions League a relationship of admiration and mutual affection between him and the fans was born,” Allegri continued.
“I’m sure this influenced his decision to sign for Juventus.”
In Turin there is a lot of enthusiasm to see Cristiano live, but the coach reminded everyone that his team will need to stay focused on the next opponent, a Lazio side who won 2-1 last year at this stadium.
“At this moment there is a lot of enthusiasm in Italian football thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo, but we have to be focused and respect the opponent, because what counts is to take the three points,” he added.
Allegri also reported that the new signing and Paulo Dybala are the two players in charge of penalties, but gave no clues as to who will take direct freekicks.
“Cristiano and Dybala will take the penalties this year, but the problem is who will take the direct freekicks,” Allegri said.
“Now we have six or seven players that can approach the dead ball.”