Is Cristiano Ronaldo taking part in right this moment for Juventus? Newest information on star’s standing

After much speculation about Cristiano Ronaldo’s future this summer, the global soccer star will be starting his fourth Serie A season with Juventus on Sunday, Aug. 22, when the team opens its season at Udinese.

The 36-year-old Ronaldo is the reigning Serie A top scorer (29 goals last season) and although the European transfer window has not closed, he’ll be staying in Turin. With just one year left on his contract, it’s likely to be his final season in Italy.

“Ronaldo told me that he is staying at Juventus,” Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri said in the pregame press conference ahead of the Udinese match. “Ronaldo is an added bonus for us, because he guarantees a high number of goals. He has always trained well, I just read the gossip in the papers. He never told us he wanted to leave.” 

MORE: Who will win Serie A in 2021-2022?

There’s still much to accomplish for Ronaldo at Juventus. In addition to defending his Serie A scoring crown and winning his third Italian league title, Ronaldo will be hoping to lead Juventus to the elusive trophy the team acquired him to help capture: the UEFA Champions League. Juve hasn’t won the top European club crown since 1996.

Will Ronaldo play for Juventus vs. Udinese?

The Juventus season kicks off Sunday with a Serie A opener against Udinese. Ronaldo was on the bench with Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala getting the start up top.

Juventus vice president Pavel Nedved told Italy’s DAZN that the benching “was a mutual decision with the player. We are at the start of the season and you can’t expect to be in top form. It’s a decision for the good of the team. Even Chiellini, a Euro champion, starts on the bench today. Will Ronaldo stay at Juventus? Yes, absolutely.”

The benching comes on the heels of Ronaldo missing a midweek tuneup match against Juve’s Under-23 team. But the club made it known that he sat out to do individual training.

“Ronaldo didn’t play on Thursday because we were coming off a heavy training workload and I gave him half a day off,” Allegri said about Ronaldo’s absence in midweek, confirming he was available for selection against Udinese.

The Juventus schedule through the end of September follows below:

Date Competition Match Time (ET) TV channels Stream
Sun, Aug. 22 Serie A – Matchday 1 Udinese vs. Juventus 12:30 p.m. CBS Sports Network Paramount+
Sat, Aug. 28 Serie A – Matchday 2 Juventus vs. Empoli 2:45 p.m.   Paramount+
Sat, Sept. 11 Serie A – Matchday 3 Napoli vs. Juventus TBD   Paramount+
Tue/Wed, Sept. 14/15 Champions League – Matchday 1 TBD TBD   Paramount+
Sat, Sept. 18 Serie A – Matchday 4 Juventus vs. AC Milan TBD   Paramount+
Tue, Sept. 21 Serie A – Matchday 5 Spezia vs. Juventus TBD   Paramount+
Sat, Sept. 25 Serie A – Matchday 6 Juventus vs. Sampdoria TBD   Paramount+
Tue/Wed, Sept. 28/29 Champions League – Matchday 2 TBD TBD   Paramount+

Serie A top scorer favorites

Major sportsbooks in the USA list Cristiano Ronaldo as the favorite to retain the title of Serie A top scorer. His main preseason challengers are Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata and Lazio’s Ciro Immobile.

Ronaldo has not scored fewer than 21 goals in his three previous seasons in Italy’s Serie A, netting a total of 81 league goals during that span and 133 across all competitions for the Bianconeri.

Player Team DraftKings Pointsbet William Hill
Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus +275 +260 +225
Ciro Immobile Lazio +800 +900 +700
Duvan Zapata Atalanta +800 +600 +600
Dusan Vlahovic Fiorentina +1200 +1400 +1600
Luis Muriel Atalanta +1200 +1200 +1000
Tammy Abraham AS Roma +1400 +2000 +1400
Victor Osimhen Napoli +1400 +1200 +1200
Lautaro Martinez Inter Milan +1400 +700 +700
Alvaro Morata Juventus +1600 +1200 +1000
Edin Dzeko Inter Milan +1800 +1800 +1800
Zlatan Ibrahimovic AC Milan +2000 +2000 +2000
Olivier Giroud AC Milan +2000 +1500 +1400
Dries Mertens Napoli +3500 +2000 +2000
Andrea Belotti Torino +3500 +3300 +3300
Federico Chiesa Juventus +5000 +3300 +3300
Lorenzo Insigne Napoli +3500 +5000 +5000
Paulo Dybala Juventus +5000 +2500 +2500
Ante Rebic AC Milan +6500 +2500 +2500
Domenico Berardi Sassuolo +6500 +3300 +3300
Joao Pedro Cagliari +6500 +5000 +5000
Francesco Caputo Sassuolo +6500 +5000 +5000
Andrea Petagna Napoli +8000 N/A +10000
Hirving Lozano Napoli +10000 +10000 +10000
Henrikh Mkhitaryan AS Roma +10000 N/A N/A
Fabio Quagliarella Sampdoria +10000 +10000 +10000
Josep Ilicic Atalanta +10000 +6600 +6600
Rafael Leao AC Milan +10000 +10000 +10000
Mattia Destro Genoa +15000 N/A N/A
Dejan Kulusevski Juventus +15000 +6600 +6600
M’bala Nzola Spezia +15000 N/A N/A
Lorenzo Pellegrini AS Roma +20000 N/A N/A
Nicolo Zaniolo AS Roma +20000 +6600 +6600

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