Sarri: 'Ronaldo such a specimen!'

By Football Italia staff

Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri won’t take credit for Cristiano Ronaldo’s scoring run against Roma. “Give credit to his mother for creating such a specimen!”

The Bianconeri swept through to the Coppa Italia semi-finals against either Milan or Torino with a 3-1 win, decided by Cristiano Ronaldo, Rodrigo Bentancur and Leonardo Bonucci.

“We had a good first half, but didn’t come out of the locker room for the start of the second,” Sarri told Rai Sport, referring to the Cengiz Under strike.

“After a little while, we again got into it against a team that has a good passing game. Gigi Buffon made some saves that confirm he’s still in good shape and a top level goalkeeper.

“Douglas Costa doesn’t have 90 minutes in his legs yet, but seemed to be clearly improving. Ronaldo is in extraordinary physical and mental condition, scoring with remarkable consistency. On an individual level, I don’t see what Ronaldo could improve. Perhaps in some defensive moments.

“I cannot take credit for Ronaldo’s current form, you can only give credit to his mother for creating such a specimen!”

Danilo limped off during the first half, to be replaced by Juan Cuadrado.

“Alex Sandro was coming off a muscular problem and Cuadrado had flu, so we’re a bit short on full-backs at the moment. If we really need to, then we can use Blaise Matuidi there.”

This weekend will see Sarri visit the Stadio San Paolo as an opponent for the first time since he left Napoli.

“That was not a normal experience,” he confessed. “It was something that really touched me deep down. It was, on a human level, an extraordinary bond.”

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