Cristiano Ronaldo received plenty of criticism for failing to take a penalty as Juventus were beaten in the Coppa Italia final against Napoli on Wednesday.The game finished 0-0 after 90 minutes and so a penalty shootout took place to decide a winner.But after Paulo Dybala and Danilo missed for Juventus, Arkadiusz Milik stepped up to score and seal the cup for Gennaro Gattuso’s Napoli.Questions were immediately asked as to why Ronaldo hadn’t taken a penalty.It’s presumed that the Portuguese star wanted to take Juventus’ fifth penalty but the shootout didn’t get that far.It’s not the first time that Ronaldo hasn’t taken a penalty in a shootout. He did the same while playing for his country against Spain at Euro 2012 and against Chile in the Confederations Cup in 2017.
As a leader in the dressing room and Juventus’ regular penalty taker, it’s hard not to feel like Ronaldo is thinking about this too much.Take the first penalty and give your teammates confidence by banging it into the net.
Instead it was left to Dybala to take Juventus’ first penalty and the Argentinian’s attempt was saved by Napoli’s Alex Meret.
As for Danilo’s effort, we don’t even know what to say…
Maurizio Sarri admitted afterwards that Ronaldo is still lacking sharpness after three months away.
“He’s in the same shape as the others, like Paulo Dybala and Douglas Costa, he is lacking the sharpness to do what works best for him,” Sarri told RAI, per Metro.
“I didn’t say much to the players after the game. I was angry and disappointed just like them, so at these moments it’s best to stay silent.”
How sharp do you have to be, though, to score a penalty?