download All Football App

Ronaldo's remaining challenges at Juventus before possible summer departure

  /  autty

Nothing is certain about Cristiano Ronaldo's future. The Juventus forward has appeared unhappy in recent weeks and speculation has been building around where he could be next season.

The Old Lady's failure to win a 10th straight Serie A title, with Inter being crowned champions on Sunday, has only increased the rumours that he could be on the move this coming summer.

But hours after the title was decided, Cristiano Ronaldo delivered for Juventus, scoring twice in the last 10 minutes as they came from behind to win away at Udinese, keeping their hopes of finishing in the top four alive.

"He's a champion," Andrea Pirlo said of his No.7 afterwards. "He always wants to improve and he has transmitted positivity to the team."

Between now and the end of the season, though, the Portuguese forward has a lot of challenges facing him.

Get Juventus into the Champions League

Juventus have to qualify for the Champions League and, should they fail, Cristiano's exit is almost guaranteed. He sees that competition as his stage, and he is the all-time top goalscorer with 134 goals.

The win over Udinese improves their chances of making it. Now third, Juventus are behind Atalanta but are level on points with La Dea and AC Milan in fourth. Then Napoli are two points behind in fifth and Lazio are five off but with a game in hand.

A fifth trophy

On May 19, just days before the last Matchday of Serie A, Juventus meet Atalanta in Sassuolo's Mapei Stadium for the Coppa Italia final. That game will give Cristiano Ronaldo the chance to win his fifth trophy for the club, following two Scudetto triumphs and two Supercoppa Italianas.

The first player to be top goalscorer in three leagues

Nobody has scored more than his 79 goals in Serie A since his 2018 arrival. Ciro Immobile is next with 70, then Duvan Zapata is third on 55. But he is yet to be proclaimed Capocannoniere - Italy's Pichichi. In 2018/19 his 21 goals placed him behind Fabio Quagliarella, Zapata and Krzysztof Piatek. He hit 31 in 2019/20, but was outscored by Immobile's 36.

This season he leads the way with 27. Romelu Lukaku is some way off on 21, while Immobile, Luis Muriel, Simy Nwankwo and Susan Vlahovic all have 19.

If he ends the season as Capocannoniere, he'll become the first player in history to be the top scorer in three of Europe's top-five leagues.

A Juventus century

Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid averaging more than a goal a game, with 451 in 438 appearances. With Juventus, he hasn't quite managed that and had 99 in 129.

One more goal is all that's needed to become a Juventus centurion. He's already level with Paulo Dybala's tally for the club and is in 13th place in Juventus' all-time table. Michel Platini's 104 and John Charles' 105 are in his sights.

The top 10, though, is a little further away. Roberto Baggio and Federico Munerati have 115 each.