"You can't have a coach who wants to play football with Cristiano Ronaldo" - Cassano slams Juventus star

Former Italian striker Antonio Cassano says Cristiano Ronaldo is focused on personal accolades.

Antonio Cassano has slammed Juventus' main man Cristiano Ronaldo for being selfish. Cassano believes the Portuguese international was the biggest impediment to Maurizio Sarri in his efforts to implement his style of football in his only season in charge at Juventus.

Antonio Cassano says Cristiano Ronaldo only thinks about records and goals

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 43% of Juventus’ Serie A goals this season. pic.twitter.com/yWolIhQWe2

— TC. (@totalcristiano) March 17, 2021

Speaking to Christian Vieri on the latter's Twitch show Bobo TV (as relayed by Marca), Cassano said:

"If you sell Cristiano, there is 100 million euros with which you can sign a couple of top players. Last year, Sarri put into practice the best football in recent years and was fired.

"His problem was Cristiano Ronaldo. You can't have a coach who wants to play football with Cristiano Ronaldo. He's a brake for [Andrea] Pirlo. Cristiano only thinks about his goals and records.

"If you are president and want to start a new cycle, you cannot give a rookie coach the responsibility of managing someone like Ronaldo.

"[Dejan] Kulusevski, for example, is very influenced. Young people without personality face problems."

Cassano's criticism of Cristiano Ronaldo comes in the wake of Juventus crashing out of the UEFA Champions League and their Serie A title hopes taking a major hit after the loss against Benevento this past weekend.

Over the course of his career, Antonio Cassano has played for AS Roma, Real Madrid, Sampdoria, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Parma and Hellas Verona. This is not the first time the 38-year-old has issued a scathing attack on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Back in February, Antonio Cassano called Cristiano Ronaldo a failure. Cassano told Corriere dello Sport (as relayed by Marca).

🗣 Antonio Cassano on Cristiano Ronaldo"Juventus signed him to win the Champions League, but they've done worse with him than they've done before. They'd also won the Serie A title without him. I think he's been a failure." 👀 pic.twitter.com/QxZueVxbHD

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) February 28, 2021

"Juventus signed him to win the Champions League, but they've done worse with him than they've done before.

"They'd also won the Scudetto [Serie A title] without him. I think he's been a failure. It's been a mistake. Juve have only been interested in winning for 120 years, but [Maurizio] Sarri and Pirlo tried to change their identity,"

Cassano does not think that Cristiano Ronaldo and Andrea Pirlo are on the same page.

"They're tried to improve their style of play rather than win. Cristiano just doesn't work in the same way as Andrea. He'll keep scoring goals because he knows how to do that no matter what. He'll cut in from the left, get the ball on his right foot and fire it in.

"But Pirlo wants to build the play, pressure the opposition and play between the lines, and this means Cristiano doesn't participate much. I think Cristiano has done terribly over the last three years."