Is this the beginning of the end for Juve star Cristiano Ronaldo?

Is this the beginning of the end for Juve star Cristiano Ronaldo?

 Cristiano Ronaldo no dudó en mostrar su talante deportivo respondiendo a la afición del Atlético con sus ’5 Champions’ / | MEDIAPRO

His five finger boast deflected away from his team's poor performance on the pitch

Outrageous, controversial, provocative, offensive, vengeful... Many adjectives have been used to describe Cristiano Ronaldo following Wednesday's game against Atletico Madrid. Juventus were well beaten by the Spanish side and Ronaldo's new objective of winning the Champions League with another club now looks a little more difficult. 

Five fingers held up, representing the five Champions Leagues he's won in comparison to Atletico's none, show what a bad loser Ronaldo is. Like a little kid, Cristiano's managed it again. Another controversy to cover up reality. Or, better said, the reality of Cristiano Ronaldo. He did as much when Real Madrid won their third consecutive Champions League against Liverpool. In that game, he didn't appear, Madrid's stars came from elsewhere. So, after the game, he said he was thinking of leaving the club. 

Now he's done it again. Five fingers to cover up what's happening to Ronaldo. The Portuguese forward didn't score and was one of the guilty parties in the defeat against Atletico. His lack of goals could see the Italian side knocked out in the last 16. Just one goal in his last nine Champions League games. Data which leads to the question: Is this the beginning of the end for Cristiano? 

As well as not scoring, Ronaldo's also partly to blame for Atletico's second goal. When Godin's about to shoot, it looks like Ronaldo can block the shot. But the Portuguese preferred to protect himself, turning his body, not looking at the ball and ultimately deflecting it into his own goal. 

Juve have a lot of hope deposited in Ronaldo and they hoped that he would be the man to help them take a definitive step towards winning the Champions League. But the reality is that on Wednesday there was no improvement -- they are worse than they have been in other campaigns. Since 2016, Juve have not been knocked out at this stage. On that occasion, it was Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich who took care of them. 

Defeat in Madrid has done a lot of damage to the Serie A leaders, but Ronaldo just wants to talk about his five Champions Leagues and not about his possible slide away from football's elite.