Atletico Madrid vs Juventus preview: Ronaldo starts quest for record-equalling sixth European title

Aside from falling to score in his first three matches for Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo’s first season in Turin has been relatively smooth soiling. The 34-year-old has played a direct hand in 27 goals in his first 24 league appearances (19 goals, eight assists) and is the highest WhoScored rated player in the division (7.88). Juventus are 13 points clear in Serie A and the only unbeaten side left in Europe’s top five leagues. The Old Lady already have one hand on a record eighth-straight league title.

However, Juventus did not sign Ronaldo to win the league. While there is no denying the top teams in Serie A are getting stronger, Juventus would have been overwhelming favourites for the Scudetto even if they did not recruit the Portuguese. Juventus signed Ronaldo to win the Champions League - a trophy they have not won since 1996 and a competition they have lost five finals in since.

There is no blueprint to follow in order to win Europe’s elite competition. Bayern Munich thought that by appointing Pep Guardiola in 2013 they would go on to dominate Europe, as Guardiola’s Barcelona did. The Spaniard failed to reach a Champions League final in three years at Bayern and is now at Manchester City.

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Ronaldo, however, is perhaps as close as you can get to guaranteed success when signing a player. The Portugal international has won the Champions League in four of the last five years. Ronaldo is one Champions League trophy away from equalling Paco Gento’s record of six and winning with Juventus would also match Clarence Seedorf’s record of winning the European cup with three different clubs.

For all of the goals Ronaldo will score as a Juventus player however, the veteran knows he will be judged on whether he delivers the Champions League or not for Max Allegri's side. It’s a challenge he will relish and one that starts on Wednesday night against familiar opponents. Ronaldo helped Real Madrid knock Atletico out of the Champions League in four of the last five years. In fact, Madrid are the only side to eliminate Atletico from the knockout stage of the competition in that time.

UEFA rules meant Atletico could not draw city rivals Madrid in the round of 16 but Ronaldo would have been the lsat player they would have wanted to face, even if that is not something they will admit. Ronaldo has scored in a Champions League final against Atletico and also netted a hat-trick against Diego Simeone’s side in a European semi-final in 2017. Against only Sevilla (27 goals) and Getafe (23) has Ronaldo scored more goals than Atletico (22) in his career.

Ronaldo has struggled in the Champions League this season by his own exceptional standards, but heads into Wednesday’s match as the most in-form player in Europe’s top five leagues, according to WhoScored’s own algorithm. Ronaldo has reached double figures for Champions League goals in each of the last seven seasons, though has only scored one in five games for Juventus so far this season. The knockout phase is, however, where Ronaldo comes into his own. He has scored 34 goals in 32 Champions League knockout stage appearances over the last six seasons, at least 19 more than any other player. Ronaldo’s had to work hard to be a success at Juventus but this is where his season really starts.