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