Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly confessed to his former teammates in private that it was a mistake to leave Real Madrid last year, according to Spain’s ABC citing sources familiar with the matter.
The Portuguese footballer spent 10 years at Real Madrid, leaving the club in 2018 to join Juventus on a €100 million transfer fee. He explained the move by his need for “a new challenge”, but reports indicate that the real reason behind the move was his anger with the club’s refusal to offer him the amount he wanted to renew his contract.
Ronaldo is now said to regret the move, allegedly thinking that he would have won the last two Golden Ball awards had he stayed at the club, but could not articulate this publically for obvious reasons. The reports suggest that the winger found it particularly difficult to start from scratch at the age of 33.
The news comes following the results of the annual Ballon d’Or award, which this year was claimed by Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the sixth time.
Last year’s trophy also went to another player, Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric, and some of Ronaldo’s current teammates, including Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini, believe that his victory was a planned strike against Ronaldo in order to punish him for leaving the club.
“Ronaldo was really robbed of the Ballon d'Or last season, when Real Madrid decided to make sure he couldn't win it and that was really weird”, Chiellini recently said. “This season, it was more balanced. With all due respect, Modric even in his best season of his career didn't deserve it”.
“That was a signal from Real Madrid, as they wanted to stop Ronaldo winning it”.
Ronaldo, who is now 34, has scored only 8 goals in 13 games during 2019/20 season with Juventus. He has won five Ballon d’Or awards, the last was in 2017.
