Serie A 2018/19: How are Juventus using Cristiano Ronaldo?

There can be no doubt about the biggest and most high profile transfer of the summer, the deal that took the Portuguese international forward Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Juventus was worth a reported £99M and represented a significant investment from the Italian side, especially in a player who will turn 34 in the second half of this season.

The age profile of the player however and the willingness of Juventus, one of the smartest clubs in Europe in terms of player recruitment, to spend such a significant fee on an ageing player speaks volumes of the quality and durability of the player. Indeed, more than possibly any other top level player of the last decade Ronaldo possesses the ability to constantly reinvent his game in order remain relevant at the top level and maximise his physical attributes.

Consider the original version of Ronaldo when he emerged at Manchester United following his transfer from Sporting Lisbon, more style than substance his tricks and flicks brought the crowd at Old Trafford to their feet but his end product was often lacking. Fast forward to the end of his time in England and we see a multifunctional forward whose finishing was often incisive and decisive, a rare blend of power, pace and technique that was key in the success of his club towards his move to Spain and Real Madrid.

In Madrid, we saw the further evolution of Ronaldo as he emerged as a leader at club and international level. He still played predominantly from the wide areas initially but gradually he transitioned into more of a traditional central striker as he became the firm focal point for the attacking structure of the club.

All of this led to questions surrounding how Juventus would use the Portuguese forward following his club record transfer in the summer. There was a clear plan from the Italian side to recoup a percentage of the transfer outlay with commercial deals in place and shirt sales likely to account for a large percentage of the initial outlay. On the pitch, however, there were still questions surrounding whether Ronaldo would play from the wide areas or the central area?

The Story so Far

So far this season we have seen a couple of different configurations from Juventus as their coach Max Allegri looks for the best way to use his attacking resources. In some matches, they have used two forwards in Cristiano Ronaldo and Mario Mandzukic playing centrally with the Argentinian forward Paulo Dybala behind them as the 10.

In this image, you can see the movement patterns that we see from the Juventus forwards in this orientation. The Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic plays as the fixed focal point in the central area whilst both Ronaldo and Dybala have the freedom to move around in and around the final third. Ronaldo, in particular, will drift out into wide areas to pick up possession of the ball before moving back inside diagonally towards the penalty area.

There are similarities in this system to the way that we saw Ronaldo play during the latter stages of his time at Madrid. With Mario Mandzukic taking the role of Karim Benzema as the forward who sacrifices himself to create space for Ronaldo to move into. If anything, however, the movement profile for Ronaldo in this structure for Ronaldo offers the Portuguese forward even more freedom as he drifts right as well as left at will.

The second attacking