Juventus Coach Denies Having Knowledge Of Cristiano Ronaldo's Free-Kick Dilemma

Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri said he had no idea Cristiano Ronaldo has been having worries about scoring free-kicks.

Just like any other superstar athlete, Ronaldo also has holes in his game. Throughout his glorified career, the most evident weakness must be his free-kicks accuracy.

The 35-year-old hasn't scored a free-kick for the club since the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup final. The closest one Ronaldo had was a deflected strike in a pre-season friendly. In fact, the Juventus star once became the second-worst free-kick taker in Serie A history.

However, during the derby against Torino on Saturday (July 4), Ronaldo broke the curse and scored a sensational penalty goal. The Portuguese icon was finally able to hit the back of the net via a free-kick and even set a new Serie A record in the process.

Juventus coach Sarri was asked to comment about Ronaldo’s relieving moment. While speaking to the media after the match, Sarri revealed that he had no idea that his superstar has been worrying about scoring a free-kick coming into the game, Besoccer.com reported.

"I didn't imagine he was worried about the free-kicks. At the end of the game he said to me with relief: 'finally,'" Sarri revealed.

By contrast, Ronaldo confessed to Sky Sport Italia (via Goal) moments after the epic goal that he “needed a free-kick goal.” The five-time Ballon d’Or winner also said that after breaking the two-year drought and finally scoring a free-kick, he got “some confidence back.”

Meanwhile, Sarri stated that should anything worry Ronaldo again in the future, he hopes that the legendary striker would let him know so that he can help him.

The free-kick goal against Torino saw Ronaldo becoming the first player in 60 years to hit 25 goals for Juventus in a single Serie A season.

The previous record-holder was Omar Sívori, who put his name in the record books in the 1960-61 season. Sívori scored 25 goals for the Bianconeri in the Italian top-flight until “CR7” broke it with his first-ever free-kick goal for the Italian giants.

Before Ronaldo ended his poor spell in this category, sports scientist Dr. Rajpal Brar tried to figure out the root cause of “CR7’s” free-kick issues. According to Brar, there are several factors that might have affected Ronaldo, but a more possible cause of the consecutive misses was "the psychological effect."

Brar noted that it's likely that the stresses Ronaldo sustained over time have negatively affected his striking technique.