Ronaldo takes centre stage as Juve aim for European glory

Old Lady will begin their title pursuit against Roma at Mestalla

VALENCIA: No player owns as many Champions League titles as Cristiano Ronaldo but a sixth with Juventus would surely be his best of the lot.

Ronaldo played the lead role in all of those five previous triumphs, from his towering header for Manchester United against Chelsea in 2008 to the tie-clinching, 97th-minute penalty against Juventus last season in the quarters.

In between, there were the 17 goals he scored in every game but one en route to the trophy in 2014, the title-winning penalty against Atletico Madrid in 2016 and the hat-trick against the same opposition, this time in the last four, a year later. He would also score twice against Juventus in the final.



It was to become the beneficiaries, rather than victims, of these match-winning moments, that Juve seemingly decided last summer the only way to win the Champions League before Ronaldo retires is to have Ronaldo on your team.

They begin that assault on Wednesday, when the 33-year-old will kick a ball competitively in Spain for the first time since his dizzying 100 million-euro move from Madrid.

There is risk too for Juventus, who have shelled out the first three-figure sum ever paid for a player in their thirties, and one that represents a very different model to the free-flowing forward that used to terrorise defences left, right and centre.

Silvas step up as De Bruyne left out

Pep Guardiola isn't an easy man to please, so the Manchester City manager's assertion that it is "impossible" to be happier with Bernardo Silva is a testament to the Portuguese midfielder's breakthrough in his second season at the Premier League champions.

City's record-breaking campaign last season owed much to the class of Kevin de Bruyne. But in the Belgian's absence due to a long-term knee injury, the wealth of options on offer to Guardiola is paying off through both Bernardo and namesake David Silva.

Both players had very different struggles despite City's success last season.



A year on, De Bruyne's injury has offered him the chance to play regularly as the creative hub of the City midfield and Guardiola was uncharacteristically gushing after Saturday's 3-0 win over Fulham: "It is almost impossible to be more pleased as a manager with him, he is skinny, small, but he is wow!”

Alongside him as City's latest quest to win the Champions League for the first time begins at home to Lyon on Wednesday will be the elder Silva.

The Spaniard has been liberated to enjoy his football once more after a harrowing five months in the latter part of last season as he jetted between Manchester and his homeland to visit his pre-mature born son.