Cristiano Ronaldo a Goal Machine and Money-making Machine for Ambitious Juventus

Agencies
November 7, 2018

Nov 7: Cristiano Ronaldo's reputation has been tarnished by allegations of rape, but Juventus still believe he will help the Italian giants to reduce the financial gap between them and the world's very biggest clubs.

Juventus take on Manchester United -- the world's richest club and where Ronaldo became a star -- in Turin on Wednesday knowing a draw will seal their place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

They are counting on 'CR7' as they look to win the Champions League for the first time since 1996 -- they have lost five finals since then, including in 2015 and 2017. Ronaldo, now 33, has won the trophy five times himself.

"Financially it has been a very rational move," financial expert Carlo Alberto Carnevale Maffe news agency. "The lifetime value of a player extends longer than his biological age.

"On the pitch he's one of the best. Ronaldo also makes the news, he gives visibility, conversation, discussion...raises your intangible value."

The news recently has been as much about the rape allegations in the United States, which Ronaldo himself has strongly denied, insisting he is "an example, 100 percent on and off the pitch".

But Juve president Andrea Agnelli -- who has orchestrated their domination in Italy since taking over the family-owned club in 2010 -- believes "the Ronaldo effect" can propel the "Old Lady of Turin" into another stratosphere.

"We are fully convinced that Ronaldo is an added value in every respect, in terms of business, and will facilitate our global expansion," said Agnelli, who wants to target the US, Chinese and Southeast Asian markets.

According to the Deloitte Football Money League, Juventus are tenth in Europe with annual revenues of 405.7 million euros ($463 million) in 2017, with only three Italian clubs featuring in the top 20.

Manchester United top the list on 676.3 million euros ahead of Real Madrid (674.6m) and Barcelona (648.3m).

On the pitch, Ronaldo has made an impact, scoring seven goals in the champions' best-ever start to a Serie A season. They are on track for an eighth consecutive league title.

Carnevale Maffe believes that Juventus can only gain despite the high price of a deal estimated to cost 340 million euros in total over four years, on top of the 110 million-euro transfer fee.

"When you are so close to success, all the planning, all the strategy may not be enough...the touch of genius is needed, and Ronaldo has that," added Carnevale Maffe, who lectures in Corporate Strategy at Milan's Bocconi School of Management.

'Robust'

Since Ronaldo-fever gripped Juventus, the club's share price jumped from 0.69 euros on July 3, to 1.672 euros on September 19.

But it then dropped 34 percent, starting to slide after his red card in the Champions League against Valencia, followed by the emergence of rape allegations in the United States.

While Ronaldo has denied the claims, two of his sponsors, Nike and EA Sports, said they were "closely monitoring" what Nike called "disturbing allegations".

"There is always an element of random events, unpredictable elements," said Carnevale Maffe.

"Players are physically fragile but business-wise Ronaldo is one of the most robust assets."

The real hope is that Ronaldo will not only help Juventus win the Champions League but attract lucrative commercial deals that will make the Italian club number one in the world.

The father of four has over 323.4 million followers across all social media platforms and is now the most followed person on Instagram with 145 million.

Since his arrival the club's following on social media has increased from 49 million to 62 million.

They say they are already on track for record Ronaldo kit sales for the season, with the black and white shirts costing up to 150 euros each.

Juventus also increased the price of season tickets by 30 percent while talks with Ronaldo were still secret, with all 29,300 sold.

Their 41,507-seat stadium is not as big as other leading European clubs so finding extra revenue not generated from ticket sales is all the more important.

But audit group KPMG have estimated the "Ronaldo effect" will see Juve's revenue jump to 500 million euros in the next two to three seasons.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 6,2020

Sydney, Jan 6: Nathan Lyon captured five for 50 and 10 match wickets as Australia crushed New Zealand by 279 runs on Monday, capping a golden domestic summer as they swept the three-Test series.

The off-spinner led the powerful Australian bowling attack to dismiss the Kiwis for 136 and seal another heavy win over the Black Caps after similar victories in Perth and Melbourne.

Australia have been unbeatable this season, winning all five Tests at home -- two against Pakistan and three against New Zealand -- after retaining the Ashes by drawing the series 2-2 in England.

"It's been a great summer for the Australian Test side," Lyon said.

"It's pretty special to be part of it, we have been impressive, pretty clinical, the batters have done well and given us bowlers plenty of time."

Australia declared their second innings at 217 for two with David Warner scoring an unbeaten century, leaving the Black Caps with a revised 416-run target in the fourth innings on a wearing Sydney Cricket Ground pitch.

But the Kiwis buckled under the pressure of Australia's superior bowling attack with Mitchell Starc taking three for 25 to support the wiles of spinner Lyon.

"They were clinical in all areas and after the first match they put us under pressure session after session," said skipper Kane Williamson, who missed the Test with a virus.

New Zealand were reeling early at 27-4 and never recovered after Starc and Lyon took two wickets each in the middle session to put the skids under the tourists.

Starc removed both openers, Tom Latham and Tom Blundell, in the first five overs. Blundell fell to a stunning catch by a diving Lyon at point for two and stand-in skipper Latham lost a review for leg before wicket.

Jeet Raval was out in a review to the faintest of edges on 'Snicko' in Lyon's first over for 12.

First-innings top-scorer Glenn Phillips went for a duck after technology detected a faint outside edge to wicketkeeper Paine off Lyon.

Taylor's Kiwi record

Ross Taylor became the leading all-time Kiwi batsman, going past Stephen Fleming (7,172) before he was bowled by Pat Cummins for 22 to take his Test aggregate to 7,174.

Big-hitting Colin de Grandhomme smacked Lyon for six to bring up his fifty but went next ball hoicking to Joe Burns at deep mid-wicket for 52.

Todd Astle was out to a superb diving catch by James Pattinson in the outfield for 17.

Starc yorked William Somerville's middle stump for seven and BJ Watling was the last to fall, caught at backward square leg by Pat Cummins for 19.

Earlier, Warner completed his 24th Test century and remained unbeaten when skipper Paine declared upon the dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne.

"You know you're capable of doing so," Warner said, when asked about how he had bounced back from his disastrous Ashes campaign in England last year.

"I was in the nets hitting the ball well and had the skipper backing me. To be able to play with freedom helped me. It's all paying off."

Labuschagne, who was dropped on four in a regulation caught-and-bowled chance by leg-spinner Astle, was caught at long on off Matt Henry for 59 -- his seventh score over 50 in eight innings this domestic summer.

Labuschagne finished the home five-Test season with a stunning aggregate of 896 runs, made up of his 215 in the first innings, three other centuries and three half-centuries in eight innings.

There was drama late in the Australian innings when Warner was given an official warning by umpire Aleem Dar for running down the middle of the pitch in scampering a single.

It resulted in five penalty runs being added to New Zealand's first innings total meaning their target was revised down from 421 to 416.

The Test was played against the backdrop of one of Australia's most devastating bushfire seasons with at least 24 people losing their lives in blazes raging across the country, including on the outskirts of Sydney.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 29,2020

Melbourne, Feb 29: India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Saturday said the team management has given Shafali Verma the freedom to play her natural game, which has set the Women's T20 World Cup ablaze.

The 16-year-old announced her emergence on the global stage by becoming the second highest run getter in the ongoing tournament. She has so far scored 161 runs, hitting 18 fours and nine sixes in four matches at an astounding strike rate of 161.

On Saturday, Shafali hit a 34-ball 47 to steer India to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka after spinner Radha Yadav produced a career-best 4/23.

"Shafali is someone who loves to play big shots, and we don't want to stop her. She should continue doing the same and she should continue enjoying her game," Harmanpreet said after the match.

India entered the semifinals with an all-win record as they led Group A with eight points from four games and the captain insisted it is important to continue the winning momentum.

"It's really important to keep the momentum when you are winning games. You really work hard, so you can't afford to lose that momentum. You can't bowl same pace and lengths on these wickets, so you need to keep rotating the bowlers."

"Today I tried to be positive and got a few boundaries. In the upcoming games I'll try to give my best," Harmanpreet said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Atapattu rued the reprieves given by her side to Shafali in the form of two dropped catches.

"I think that score was not enough, we lost couple of chances, specially Shafali, it was hard to stop her," she said.

"Yeah, I got a good start but unfortunately got out in the 10th, would have wanted to stay in there till the 16th or the 17th over. I hope we can beat Bangladesh in our last game," she added.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Skipper Virat Kohli has become the first Indian to reach the 50M followers mark on social media platform Instagram. Kohli, who is breaking cricketing records with each passing match, has a great social media following.

The 31-year old has so far made 930 posts on the platform and his social media posts continue to enthrall fans worldwide. Overall, Instagram's official account has the most number of followers and it is followed by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 200M followers.

In terms of Indians with most number of followers, Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra is on the second spot with 49.9 followers while Deepika Padukone is on the third place with 44.1 followers.

Last year, Kohli had become the most successful Indian Test captain, surpassing Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Currently, Kohli is in action against New Zealand and his side would take on the hosts in the two-match Test series, slated to commence from February 21.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.