Andrea Pirlo has explained his decision to start Cristiano Ronaldo from the bench in Juventus’ win against Lazio on Saturday.
Juve ran out 3-1 winners at the Allianz Stadium thanks to an Alvaro Morata double and Adrien Rabiot goal to move back to within seven points of Serie A leaders Inter.
The competition’s top scorer only saw twenty-minute of action as a substitute, with Pirlo claiming that the decision to rest the Portuguese was set on a mutual agreement having led the attack for so many games in a row.
The Juve boss told a post-match press conference: “It came from eight or nine consecutive games, we reached an agreement during the week. It was already scheduled.
“Cristiano is an added value, the boys have done what they had to do. Cristiano has already scored 20 goals, it was normal that they also scored the others.
“When you give the ball to him something can always happen and often you start 1-0 up. He is fine.
“This rest was agreed during the week because he had played so many consecutive games and needed to rest.”
Ronaldo has scored 27 goals in 31 games for the club across all competitions this term, including 20 in Serie A and four in the Champions League.
Meanwhile, the 36-year-old will lead the line when his side square off against FC Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday as they bid to overturn a 2 – 1 aggregate deficit.
