Gianluca Fabrotta Revealed How Cristiano Ronaldo Influenced Players at Juventus

Ronaldo’s signing for Juventus has been criticised lately due to the financial issues that were caused after his departure. Nevertheless, Cristiano's influence on and off the pitch marked his teammates in many ways over his years as a Bianconeri.

IMAGO / LaPresse

Cristiano Ronaldo is on his quest to reach 1000 career goals. Out of the current 949 goals he has now, 101 were scored for Juventus during three seasons, and some actions he had during those years showed why he is so successful and impactful on his teams.

Gianluca Frabotta was part of the Juventus B squad in 2019 and then with the first team in 2020, sharing the locker room with Ronaldo during his time conquering Italy. Now, the Cesena defender dropped some vivid experiences about the Portuguese star.

Even though Cristiano was not able to bring his Real Madrid’s European success in the Champions League to the Bianconeri, domestic dominance remained, bringing home trophies in the form of two Scudetti and two Coppa Italia.

In a Juventus roster with star names like Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Paulo Dybala, and Leonardo Bonucci at the time, Fabrotta made clear that Ronaldo stood out from the rest not only for his quality on the pitch but also for his bulletproof mentality and work ethic.

That mentality was much needed because in those three seasons as a Juventus player, the club was not able to provide stability, having a different coach in each of those seasons, in the names of Massimiliano Allegri in 2018-2019, Maurizio Sarri during 2019-2020, and finally Andrea Pirlo in the 2020-2021 season.

Ronaldo chewed grass just to prove a point

It was known that Cristiano did not have a good relationship with coach Maurizio Sarri, whose rigid system does not consider exemptions for any player. Now, several years after both departed the club, Fabrotta revealed a story about how an argument between them escalated, showing how Ronaldo used to train.

“During a tactical drill, Sarri was showing him some movements for set pieces. Ronaldo looked a bit irritated. He was different – he didn’t need to be told where to be; he could feel where the ball would end up”, Gianluca explained to Corriere della Sera.

“To make his point, he grabbed some grass, chewed it, smelled it and said, ‘I like to understand the pitch, to feel where the ball will go.’ That’s the kind of mentality he had. Always switched on, always connected with the game”, Fabrotta added.

Sarri later admitted he struggled to manage Ronaldo that season, but for young players like Fabrotta, who was 20 years old at the time, training with him was a career-changing experience. Gianluca even described being Cristiano’s teammate as an everyday example of commitment and instinct that really stuck with him.

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Ronaldo’s time at Juventus may not have fully met the expectations in trophies, but, as he has done throughout his career, he left a mark and part of his legacy in the Bianconeri's history.

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