Buffon defends Ronaldo from his Juventus critics

The legendary Juventus goalkeeper has rubbished suggestions the club’s slump in form is down to Ronaldo.

Gianluigi Buffon believes the team’s performances have caused Cristiano Ronaldo to ‘suffer’ this season.

Despite Ronaldo scoring a league-high of 27 goals, Juventus’ nine-year domination in Serie A has ended after Inter Milan won the league title earlier this month.

This, along with Juve failing to progress past the Champions League quarter-finals since Ronaldo joined in 2018, has raised questions over the Portuguese’s impact as the club sit on the brink of Europa League football for next season.

🗣 Antonio Cassano on Cristiano Ronaldo

"Juventus signed him to win the Champions League, but they've done worse with him than they've done before. They'd also won the Serie A title without him. I think he's been a failure." 👀 pic.twitter.com/QxZueVxbHD

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) February 28, 2021

But Buffon has defended his teammate and made a strong point to his critics.

“I have an excellent relationship with Ronaldo,” Buffon told beIN Sports. “He’s very nice to me.

“He has scored a lot of goals, always. Like in the last few years. The individual is enhanced when the team reaches important goals.

“If this doesn’t happen, the performances of the individuals suffer as well.”

Buffon added on Juventus’ season: “We lacked continuity.

“In the end, in the games we played against the top five, six teams, we often won. We drew sometimes and lost some.

“But it has always been even games. Instead, we lost stupid points against the lesser teams. This means you are a team that have yet to grow in character.”

The 43-year-old has also confirmed he will leave Juventus for a second time at the end of the season but hasn’t decided whether to end his career yet.

Gigi Buffon announces to Bein Sports: “I’ve decided to leave Juventus at the end of the season, I’m not extending the contract”. ⚪️⚫️ #Buffon #Juventus

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 11, 2021