Ronaldo cannot play 75 games a year, says Sarri
Juventus won in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo on Sunday but head coach Maurizio Sarri said its performance left room for improvement.
Published : Feb 17, 2020 00:51 IST
Maurizio Sarri explained his decision to rest Cristiano Ronaldo for Juventus' 2-0 victory over Brescia, saying the 35-year-old forward "cannot play 75 games" a year.
Ronaldo was left out of the squad after scoring 10 goals in his previous six Serie A appearances to take his tally to 20 this season, but Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado found the net in his absence on Sunday.
Sarri was also without injured quartet Douglas Costa, Federico Bernardeschi, Sami Khedira, and Merih Demiral, but Giorgio Chiellini made his first appearance since August as a second-half substitute.
Juve boss Sarri felt Portugal star Ronaldo needed time to put his feet up given the workload he has for club and country.
READ | Aston Villa 2-3 Tottenham: Son pounces on Engels error to settle thriller
Sarri said: "It is difficult; we have many strong players and some are out.
"They are all atypical players, without a specific role. We have many situations to fix.
"Ronaldo is a centre-forward who starts off-centre. Today Cristiano had to rest; he cannot play 75 games there a year between the national team and the club, so we decided to let him recover."
On Chiellini, he added: "He put himself in the team. He had said it since yesterday. He made six months of great sacrifices."
Sarri admitted his side's performance against Brescia left plenty of room for improvement after seeing the Serie A champions pick up only their second win in five matches.
ALSO READ | Lacazette ends goal drought as Arsenal downs Newcastle 4-0
Defeats to Napoli and Hellas Verona either side of a victory over Fiorentina preceded Juve's 1-1 Coppa Italia draw with Milan ahead of the win over Brescia on Sunday, and they face SPAL on Saturday with Ronaldo set to play his 1,000th career game.
"We can improve on everything," said Sarri.
"On a defensive level we have room for improvement. We also have room for improvement in attack.
"We have hit the post five times in the last two games, so a little more luck would help us. We must focus on ourselves, instead of looking to others."