Champions League: Cristiano Ronaldo left Juventus beaten, clueless and admiring his brilliance

So he won’t score the tap-ins now, will he? As a fantastic night for Real Madrid rolled towards its conclusion, just to add a dash of mirth to the whole thing, Cristiano Ronaldo fluffed a simple chance from about eight yards. Gianluigi Buffon and his teammates must have thought, ‘There goes a fourth goal’, but they were wrong. Arguably, Real Madrid should have scored even more than four if a little bit of fortune had gone the visitors’ way but three will do nicely. A 3-0 win away in a Champions League quarterfinal, inflicting the biggest defeat for Juventus at home since the Italian side moved there in 2011. [caption id=“attachment_4417903” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the opening goal against Juventus. AP[/caption] The result was a surprise but the protagonists utterly predictable. Ronaldo scored again. Twice, in fact, setting another record on the way for finding the net in 10 straight Champions League games. The first of his two strikes was like many he scores nowadays. Cutting across the defender, stealing a march on him and flicking the ball home from close range. The second? “[It was a] great goal. What can I say? Fantastic! I didn’t expect to score that goal.” Well, who did? As Ronaldo has grown older, his physical attributes have been directed towards more decisive interventions. There’s less of the dribbling and pace which was associated with his younger years. At the age of 33, we see in Ronaldo an eye for goal – best exemplified by his ability to stay in the air longer than it should be humanly possible and craning his neck to meet the ball as if it was a malleable accessory. Last night, though, Ronaldo took his athleticism to a new plane. His goal off a bicycle kick was unlike most, for it did not require significant bodily readjustment. Ronaldo merely ran a few steps back and rose in the air as if somebody was pressing a combination of buttons for him on the PlayStation. His right leg was brandished like a truncheon and the ball was administered its full force. Like with many great goals, a moment of silence preceded before everyone could bring themselves to stand and applaud. A moment required to recall the scene, to be savoured and cherished. Zinedine Zidane thought his volley in the 2002 Champions League final was better and he is probably right. But try forgetting this Ronaldo goal. Or his performances in the knockout stage, where he seems to acquire a higher dimension of excellence. Ronaldo does like scoring against Juventus too; he now has nine goals in the Champions League against the Turin club (his most favourite opponent, alongside Bayern Munich). You would think the Italian side must be sick at the sight of him but you would not have said that when the home fans applauded the goal and the man who scored it. The moment will become a self-aggrandising note in future conversations – ‘I was there.’ Yes, you were! As if the goals were not enough, Ronaldo put a sweet through ball afterwards for Marcelo to sound the death knell for Juventus. Three-nil and it was certainly over. “I am disappointed about the third goal because at that point we still could have turned the tie in the second leg. Now it will be impossible,” Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri said. After witnessing the manner in which The Old Lady experienced its first loss at home in Europe since 2011, it is very difficult to disagree with Allegri. The third goal, though, did not just puncture Juventus’ hopes; it also sucked the air out of the narrative often peddled about Ronaldo. A selfish superstar some may say and there have been instances when he has been found to be more self-serving than others—but his assist for Marcelo was his 36th in the Champions League. That number alone may not clinch the argument but Ronaldo’s goals demonstrate his will and his hunger to win matches for his team. In the Champions League knockout rounds, particularly, such is Ronaldo’s record that you would forgive him the odd miss (although Zidane was not very pleased with his fluffed tap-in towards the end). His search for goals is infused with the curiosity to see how many he can score. As Ronaldo hunts for his prey, it is only fair that those around him are asked to make the task easier for him. For he makes the opportunities count; and when the situation gets demanding, he can demonstrate his preternatural gift for the incredible. As we all witnessed on Tuesday. Ronaldo’s insatiable appetite for goals and his team’s penchant for winning big games are turning this Real Madrid team into a worthy candidate for the pantheon of great European sides. Not since the ‘70s have we seen a club win the biggest honour on the continent thrice in a row. With a semi-final spot all but guaranteed now, the gates to the pantheon are in the sight of Zidane and his players. Madrid’s manager would be worthy of that honour. There is plenty said about Zidane and his insistence to stay in the background. However, in a season where much has gone wrong for Madrid, the former player has been at the forefront of the club’s rescue mission. Zidane’s tactics in the Champions League knockout stage deserve a special mention; on Tuesday, he surprised Juventus by starting Isco on the left. The room at the playmaker’s disposal for the first goal was as much an error on part of the hosts as it was forced by Zidane’s plan. Juventus, as they often do, had a more defensive-minded outlook on the left wing. With Kwadwo Asamoah and Alex Sandro manning that flank, Zidane’s decision to start Isco out wide meant that he and Marcelo were up against the pair of Douglas Costa and Mattia de Sciglio. Juventus’ right wing was a relatively easier challenge to negotiate and Madrid had the hosts on the back foot right from the beginning. The going did not get any easier for Juventus. The way Allegri had set up his side, one could see that he was keen to avoid conceding a goal. But by the end of the night, Madrid had scored three. It was not just about Ronaldo’s bicycle kick; Juventus had very few answers for anything the visitors threw at them. Clueless and beaten, the Italian champions were left admiring Ronaldo’s brilliance. Just like the rest of us on Tuesday night.