Cristiano Ronaldo is Real Madrid’s biggest legend of this century. He has brought innumerable laurels to the Spanish capital, significantly more than anyone else in terms of pure contribution.
But his time with Los Blancos was not forever, despite it seeming at the time that it would be. He left in 2018 in a move I would not say was unexpected, but the very idea of it was too heartbreaking to accept, so many fans decided to stay in denial until it eventually happened.
El Bicho moved to Turin for a new challenge and lived it thoroughly. His time at Juventus was not as long as that in Madrid, but the imprint he left with the Italians was nothing short of replicating his Madrid fame.
During his period there, Juventus were one of the top-performing teams in Europe, and Ronaldo contributed a grand chunk to that success.
The one time Cristiano Ronaldo tried to sign an underrated player from Barcelona
We know that back in Madrid, he did not have the best relations with players from Barcelona. El Clásico was always a heated affair between two mammoths clashing. But on a professional level, he still admired many players on the Catalan side.
In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, former Barcelona midfielder, and one of the few players on that team I despised for not wearing white, Ivan Rakitić opened up about a move to Juventus that failed, and that being the regret of his career.
“Ronaldo called me in 2019 to convince me [to join Juventus]. I would have liked to play in Serie A; it's the regret of my career. I have great admiration for Italian football and the lifestyle.”
Look, this might not be popular, but Ronaldo does have that magnetic personality about him. As soon as he joined Juventus, the Italian league experienced a revived influx of some of the best names again, which they had not experienced at such a pace and consistency until then.
And the complete overhaul that the Saudi Pro League has had after his move to Al Nassr needs no mention at all. Though the Middle Eastern league still does not compete with European football, it definitely gives a tough fight. Numerous world-class players are now there, and it won’t take long before the SPL becomes a major spectacle.
If you witnessed parts of Ronaldo’s time at Juventus, you’d know that the role of combining with midfielders was heavily relied upon by all managers in Turin. And Rakitić's addition to that stacked Juventus team would have been phenomenal.
The Croatian was clearly one of the best and most consistent midfielders for Barcelona during the transition from the Xavi-Iniesta era. He was, in fact, the backbone after Lionel Messi.
The move to Juventus, though, even after Rakitić's interest, could not materialise.
“[The move never happened] partly because the price tag was too high, partly because I was still at Barcelona.”
Rakitić has troubled Real Madrid on so many occasions that I am bound to dislike him, but compelled to love him for the quality he exuded. Witnessing him collaborate with the greatest goalscorer in Real Madrid history would perhaps have changed a lot in the way Ronaldo’s Juventus path ended.
Football is a game of what-ifs, and this was another one.