Juve boss rues Ronaldo's lack of sharpness in final defeat to Napoli

Napoli players celebrate with the Italian Cup after their triumph over Juventus via penalty shootout in the final on Wednesday. pic/AFP

Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri feels Cristiano Ronaldo is lacking match sharpness after the Portuguese put up another indifferent performance, according to his own high standards, against Napoli in the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday. The final went into penalties after regulation time ended goalless. Napoli prevailed 4-2 as they won their sixth Coppa Italia crown.

Ronaldo failed to find the back of the net in back-to-back matches and Sarri stated he didn't say anything to the players after the game as he was disappointed just like them. "He's in the same shape as the others, like Paulo Dybala and Douglas Costa, he is lacking the sharpness to do what works best for him," Sarri said.

Cristiano Ronaldo

"I didn't say much to the players after the game. I was angry and disappointed just like them, so at these moments it's best to stay silent." Ronaldo was set to take the last penalty kick but his chance never came as teammates Paulo Dybala and Danilo wasted their respective kicks. Napoli scorers were Lorenzo Insigne, Matteo Politano, Nikola Maksimovic and Arkadiusz Milik.

Maurizio Sarri

Leonardo Bonucci and Aaron Ramsey scored for the Bianconeri. "Right now, however, we lack brilliance and without that brilliance it becomes more difficult to beat the man, which our players are usually used to doing easily, and finding other solutions," the former Chelsea manager said. "Two 0-0s are an unprecedented fact and I think it is characteristic of this period."

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