“The divorce cost Cristiano and Real Madrid two Champions”

A divorce always has collateral effects. In the case of Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo in July 2018, the consequences were devastating for both parties. The rupture put an end to two decades of hegemony. The Madrid of the four Champions, three of them consecutively in an unusual event in 40 years. About four were the Ballons d'Or that the Portuguese conquered while wearing the white shirt. Two notches that reflect what the club and the player lost with the end of their relationship and that is also expressed in many sections of titles and goals. “The divorce cost Cristiano and Madrid two Champions”, graphically summarizes a knowledgeable source of the contacts between the player and his former club.

The trigger for Cristiano Ronaldo's desire to return to Real Madrid is a good touchstone. In his nine seasons at the Bernabéu, only once was he eliminated in the knockout stages of the Champions League, that of his arrival (2009-2010). The next eight editions of the top continental competition always had CR7 present at least in the semifinals. In his three years in Turin, the furthest he has come has been to the quarter-finals in his first season (2018-2019). Ajax was his executioner after Madrid was also his executioner in the second round. The last two years, that round has been an insurmountable wall for the bianconeri. Last year they fell against Lyon and this one with Porto. None of them rivals of the European front line. Madrid have also resisted the eighth. The aforementioned Ajax brought him down in 2019 and Manchester City 2020. This season he has a chance to compensate against Atalanta, in a tie aimed for the Whites after the 0-1 first leg in Bergamo.

Cristiano was a sure goal for Real Madrid. The Portuguese scored 450 goals in 438 games. An average (1,027) higher than a goal per match from another era. Only in the season of his debut did he not exceed 40 goals (he scored 33), and because he could barely play 35 games. He scored a goal every 84 minutes. In Juventus his average drops to 0.76 goals per game (92 in 121 appearances), one every 113 minutes, according to SofaScore data. In white he was the top scorer in 12 competitions, in addition to Euro 2012 with Portugal; of bianconeri, it has not been capocannoniere in none.

The white team was a thrashing machine with CR7. Madrid managed to slightly exceed the 100-goal barrier in the two seasons prior to the signing of the United star. With the Portuguese, the data shot to stratospheric records, with a peak of 174 goals in the 58 games of 2011-10. A nailed average of three points per game that only dropped from 2.5 two years. The white production has fallen below two goals per game. This season, without going any further, the Whites' average is 1.66 (58 goals in 35 games), their worst index since 1999-2000.

With Cristiano, Madrid were able to score three or more goals in almost half of the games (252 of 519) In 72 games he scored at least five goals. Now he is only able to score three goals in less than 30% of the games (40 of 141) and has reached five in just four games. Since the 6-0 at Galatasaray in November 2019, Madrid have not been able to score more than four goals in a game (71 games).

In the titles section, it is enough to stick to his last two seasons at Real Madrid to notice the contrast. In his last two years, Cristiano and the Whites won two Champions League, one League, two Club World Cups, two European Super Cups and one Spanish Super Cup. At Juventus, in two and a half years Cristiano has won two Scudettos and two Italian Super Cups. Madrid has won a League and a Spanish Super Cup. La Liga is complicated this season for Madridistas and Juventinos and both must overcome the obstacle of Atalanta in the other competition in which they remain alive: Madrid in the second round of the Champions League and Juve in the Italian Cup final.