DAILY POST recalls that the 34-year-old was withdrawn after just 55 minutes against AC Milan in Serie A, while he was also taken off against Lokomotiv Moscow in the Champions League a few days earlier.
Speaking to A Bola after scoring in Portugal’s 2-0 victory over Luxembourg in a Euro 2020 qualifier encounter on Sunday, Ronaldo said: “In the last three weeks I have been playing with limitations.
“Everyone knows that I don’t like to be substituted, but there was no problem in my gestures after the change. I tried to help Juventus by playing injured.
“Nobody likes to be replaced, but I understood it because I wasn’t in such good shape.”
Ronaldo added: “I sacrificed myself for the team. We could have missed out [on Euro 2020]. Thankfully, I haven’t been injured much in my career but it can happen.
“It’s a pain that prevents me from being 100%, but I always try to play. They created a big controversy where it didn’t need to exist. I’ll be back to 100% soon.”
Ronaldo will now hope to lead Juventus to victory when they take on Atalanta in the Serie A fixture on Saturday.
