Ronaldo v Godin, the endless duel

By Football Italia staff

Inter v Juventus will see Diego Godin face off against Cristiano Ronaldo for the 32nd time at club and international level.

It kicks off on Sunday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), click here for a match preview.

There will be a very familiar battle at the heart of the Derby d’Italia, as Godin is expected to mark Ronaldo.

This will be their 32nd encounter in all competition, representing several different clubs and even their countries at the World Cup.

They first crossed paths in Manchester United 0-0 Villarreal in the Champions League on September 17, 2008.

Most of their meetings – 26, to be precise – were Madrid Derbies between Real and Atletico, but those included the Champions League Final in 2014.

That saw Godin open the scoring for Atleti and what he thought was the trophy decider until Sergio Ramos forced extra time deep into stoppages.

Real Madrid ran riot, completed by a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty.

They met at the 2018 World Cup, Godin’s Uruguay beating Portugal 2-1 in the Round of 16, with these players captaining their teams.

Even after Ronaldo’s transfer to Juventus, they clashed again in last season’s Champions League, when Godin scored in the 2-0 Atletico Madrid first leg victory.

By that stage, the centre-back had already agreed a move to Inter, so there was extra spice to his goal.

However, Ronaldo celebrated a hat-trick in Turin to turn the tie around and eliminate Atleti.

In all, Ronaldo has scored 22 goals in the 31 games when on the field at the same time as Godin, while the defender found the net twice.

CR7 leads the personal duel with 11 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats against Godin.

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