Maurizio Sarri speaks out on Ronaldo's absence

Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri explained his decision to rest Cristiano Ronaldo during the Turin side's 2-0 victory over Brescia on Sunday. He said that the 35-year-old Portuguese forward cannot play 75 games every year.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star was left out of the Juve squad after netting the ball 10 times in his previous six Serie A appearances. This season alone, he has scored a total of 20 goals for the Italian giants. In CR7's absence, Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado scored one each to secure an important victory at the Allianz Stadium.

Juve also had to play without key players, namely, Douglas Costa, Federico Bernardeschi, Sami Khedira, and Merih Demiral because of injuries. During the second half, Giorgio Chiellini made his first appearance for Juventus since August, after he was brought in as a substitute.

Sarri feels that the Portuguese star Ronaldo needs some time for recovery, given the workload he experiences for both his club and country.

The Juve manager said, "It is difficult; we have many strong players and some are out. They are all atypical players, without a specific role. We have many situations to fix. Ronaldo is a centre-forward who starts off-centre. Today Cristiano had to rest; he cannot play 75 games there a year between the national team and the club, so we decided to let him recover."

Sarri also talked about Chiellini, as he appreciated the sacrifice that the player made during the last six months. The Juve boss also admitted that his side's performance against Brescia wasn't the best, as there is plenty of room for improvements. He also mentioned that his men have hit the post five times during the last two matches, which shows that the club fell short of luck when they required it the most.

Juventus is currently leading the Serie A table with 57 points in 24 matches. They are followed by Lazio with 56 points in the same number of games. The gap is narrow at the top, which means Juve must improve their game and play consistent football to defend their title this year.

On Saturday, they will take on SPAL on a historic occasion, as Ronaldo is set to appear in his 1,000th career game.