Sarri praises “unlucky” CR7 as Juventus progress to Coppa Italia finals

Juventus manager, Maurizio Sarri has praised Cristiano Rondaldo despite the Portuguese superstar’s miss from the penalty spot in the 0-0 draw with 10-man Milan on Friday (June 12).

The second leg, semifinal stalemate was enough for Juventus to secure progress to the Coppa Italia final as the first leg at San Siro had finished 1-1. On Friday Ronaldo saw his effort from 12 yards come off the post in the 16th minute as Juve drew 0-0 at home to a resolute Milan side.

However, Sarri had only words of encouragement for his talisman player. 
“I asked Ronaldo to take a more central role, he was pleased to try it out and he played the game he needed to at this moment,” Sarri said to Rai Sport following the team’s first professional match in Italy since the Covid-19 outbreak.
“He probably isn’t accustomed to missing a penalty, so hitting the inside of the post… it could go anywhere and he was unlucky.
“I don’t think playing him a few metres more one way or another is going to make a huge difference to such a strong player. Everyone had a strong opening 30 minutes and then faded away.
“Clearly after three months, getting back to the touchline and seeing the teams out there is a good sensation, even if it’s not the same without the fans.
“I was very surprised and satisfied with our opening 30 minutes, as we moved the ball so quickly and totally dominated the game, even before the red card.
“After that, we slowly dropped our tempo, intensity and mental determination, but that is a risk in an empty stadium. We had been doing so well, playing one and two-touch football, but then we slowed down and lost some sharpness, focused more on individual moves and taking two touches.
“The positive is that we didn’t allow the opponents to play at all. It’s going to take a while to get the fitness and mentality back to 100 per cent. If you compare it to a pre-season game, it’d be early July, but this is worse than pre-season because it was a much longer break.
“It’ll take some patience, but the first 30 minutes I saw today was an excellent sign.”

Serie A champions Juve will face either Napoli or Inter in the Coppa Italia final in Rome on June 17.