Champions League: Cristiano Ronaldo reaffirms his credentials as game's all-time great in Juventus win

In the stands they all sat anxiously, their eyes often drifting to the left side of the field. They had all come for Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus’s 100-million Euro talisman. They were waiting for his burst of speed, his dribble, and his goalscoring. After all, the Portuguese’s sheer presence had coaxed the fans into coming to the stadium, uniting his club and the faithful in the belief of reversing the 2-0 defeat from the first leg against Atletico Madrid, the team with arguably the best defence in the world. [caption id=“attachment_6250091” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Cristiano Ronaldo rolled back the years with a sublime hat-trick against Atletico Madrid. AP[/caption] Early morning, Italy’s newspapers had reminded Ronaldo of his mission statement: Juventus hadn’t acquired his services to consolidate their domestic dominance, but to deliver on nights like these, on nights when progress in the Champions League was at stake after the serial Italian champions were frustrated in the 2015 and 2017 finals. He had to manufacture a comeback and justify his raison d’être in Turin. Yet for the first 26 minutes, Juventus were prone to stage fright, even if comebacks have been in vogue in this season’s Champions League with bipolar behaviour at various clubs. Not that Juventus were a much-improved version from the first leg at first. They laboured and tried to force the issue. They picked the wrong passes and showed anxiety. Massimiliano Allegri’s team attacked, but with caution. Their opponents were accommodating, sitting back and absorbing the pressure, almost with a smile on their faces. It was trademark defending from Atletico Madrid, playing 4-4-2 and massing bodies behind the ball when out of possession. Even Antoine Griezmann dropped deep. The Spanish held a narrow shape, allowing Juventus space on the wings, but the Italian full-backs’ crosses were lacklustre. It was all Juventus in terms of territory and possession, but Madrid didn’t give up any space in the final third. Diego Simeone prioritised a faultless defensive play and did not in the least seem to contemplate the idea of attacking - ad absurdum, it would later prove. Then the 27th minute and Ronaldo arrived. The Portuguese still defies logic. The question marks before kick-off had been stinging but boiled down to a simple insinuation: at 34, Ronaldo’s powers were beginning to fade. He was still great, but no longer a talisman ‘extraordinaire.’ In fact, he was no longer part of the great duopoly that has dominated the global club game in the last decade and a half. His time at Juventus signalled his descent from Mount Olympus to the mortal world. However, Ronaldo still controls the narrative. He has turned himself into a machine - a machine good at the Champions League. It is almost an affliction. He thrives under pressure and revels in the spotlight. He remains the alpha male, whose self-belief and determination overpower everything else. With his irresistible zeal, he stormed past Atletico Madrid: dominant and domineering, and, in a way, turning back time. Ronaldo has a penchant to reinvent himself. In the twilight of his Madrid career, Ronaldo became a striker, a true goal poacher. At Juventus, inadvertently, the Portuguese has become more of team player feeding Federico Bernadeschi and Mario Mandzukic, a metamorphosis the club hierarchy perhaps didn’t envision, but, on Wednesday, he delivered another sumptuous hat-trick to propel Juventus to the last eight of the Champions League. His athleticism, timing and positioning, all the consequence of his hard-wired experience and endless sessions in the gym, allowed him to head in Juventus’s opening goal, towering over Juanfran at the far post to connect with Bernadeschi’s floating cross from the left. The goal was simply stunning, exemplifying Ronaldo’s aptitude and attitude. In the 48th minute, he scored a repeat header, with the same chiselled leap, perfected balance and instinct. Goalkeeper Jan Oblak tried to claw the ball out of his goal, but the match had run its course: Madrid were traumatised and Ronaldo was about to complete one of his finest nights in Europe. The Spanish club didn’t muster a single shot on target during the 95 minutes as they were imprisoned by their own defensive mindset. It wasn’t just that: they looked toothless across all sectors of the field - insipid at the back, non-existent up front. Even as Juventus tired and became nervy, Ronaldo would still pick his opponents apart. In the 86th minute, Bernardeschi went on a darting slalom, tripped himself and Juventus’s number seven converted from the penalty spot to score his 22nd goal in 36 games for Juventus and his 123rd goal in 160 Champions League games. The goal ensured Juventus’s progress and preserved Ronaldo as one of the game’s untouchables in more ways than one.