Pirlo confirms Ronaldo injury scare for Juventus

Cristiano Ronaldo had to come off the pitch in Juventus’ draw at Lazio with a suspected injury, which Andrea Pirlo has now confirmed.

Pirlo has confirmed reports stating that Ronaldo had to vacate the pitch in Juventus’ 1-1 draw against Lazio with an ankle injury.

The 35-year-old turned in Juan Cuadrado’s cross in the 15th-minute of the game to put the visitors ahead. It was his sixth goal of the Serie A campaign and seemingly set the team on route to victory in Rome.

Ronaldo proved to be a constant thorn in the Lazio defense and was unlucky not to score again after hitting the bar before Pepe Reina superbly denied him.

🚨Cristiano Ronaldo substituted off after receiving an injury after a knock. Ankle injury reported.

Updates coming soon… pic.twitter.com/eGhiesHGBA

— Cristiano Ronaldo (@c_ronaldo7egend) November 8, 2020

But that proved to be the least of his worries upon suffering a nasty fall on his right ankle before limping off in the 76th-minute.

Now Pirlo has confirmed Ronaldo’s ankle problem, but refused to share too many details at this stage.

“Ronaldo is a key player not only for us but for all the teams where he played, he had an ankle problem and he was forced to leave,” the Juve boss told DAZN.

Cristiano will probably undergo medical tests in the upcoming hours to determine the extent of the damage on his ankle.

But the fact he seemed surprised by Pirlo’s decision to take him off suggests it may have been more of a precaution above anything else.

Ronaldo will certainly hope that’s the case ahead of the international break, where Portugal will need him for a triple header starting with a friendly against Andorra on Wednesday.

Paulo Dybala, meanwhile, replaced the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, but was powerless to prevent Felipe Caicedo scoring an equalizer for Lazio.

“We played a great game, they never had a shot on target,” continued Pirlo.

“Championships are won if we take care of every detail, we mismanaged the ball in the final ten seconds and they scored the equalizer.

“The head is the most important thing, if you go on the pitch with a not positive attitude you do bad performances. Too bad for the result we deserved more,” he added.

“We lack malice and desire to achieve these results, there were no signs we would allow a goal, we have to give something more.”