Allegri ‘confident’ Ronaldo will be fit for Ajax clash

Juventus manger Massimiliano Allegri has claimed he is ‘confident’ Cristiano Ronaldo will be fit to take on Ajax this week.

The attacker sat out Juve’s 2-1 victory against AC Milan on Saturday, and has missed the Bianconeri’s last three league games since sustaining a hamstring injury while on international duty with Portugal.

However, speaking after this weekend’s clash in Turin, Allegri had good news for the Juve faithful ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League game.

“He [Ronaldo] always feels ready, but I told him to rest [today]. We are confident of having him at Ajax on Wednesday,” the Juventus boss told Sky Italia.

Without the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, the Old Lady still managed to register three points against Milan, despite going 1-0 down.

However, second-half strikes from Paulo Dybala and Moise Kean ensured Juve took another step towards an eighth straight Scudetto as they will now clinch the title if Napoli lose to Genoa on Sunday.

While their domestic campaign looks done and dusted, their European ambitions are anything but.

Juventus were handed a favourable drawn in the last eight of the Champions League by being paired with Ajax, but know the Eredivisie side have already claimed a big upset last round against Real Madrid.

And should they get past Ajax, Juventus face a semi-final showdown against Manchester City or Tottenham.

The Italian champions were last crowned kings of Europe in 1996, but were beaten finalists in 2015 and 2017, with Ronaldo on target for Real Madrid in the latter.

The Portuguese superstar has won the Champions League five times and it was hoped that his addition last summer could help Juve lift the jug-eared trophy.

This campaign, Ronaldo has been something of a mixed bag in Europe and was sent off in the opening group game against Valencia. He also only managed just one goal in the groups, admitted a rocket of a strike against Manchester United.

Despite his slightly underpar showings earlier in the year, the iconic No.7 made amends in the last-16 by netting a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid that ultimately eliminated the Spaniards, and saw Juve overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg.

The Old Lady will be hoping from something similar on Wednesday night, and again the following Tuesday when Ajax travel to Italy for the reverse fixture.