Cristiano Ronaldo all set to lead Real Madrid to glory in Champions League final

When Cristiano Ronaldo runs onto the field at the Millennium Stadium, he'll being trying to break new ground on some familiar territory.

In the Champions League era, which started in 1992-93, no team has ever managed to defend their title. Real Madrid will get that chance on Saturday against Juventus, and Ronaldo will be leading the way.

Ronaldo, after all, has saved his best for last.

The Portuguese superstar enters the Champions League final playing his best football of the season, peaking at the right time as Real Madrid get ready for the grand finale in Cardiff.

"I feel good," Ronaldo said before travelling to Britain, "in great form."

The forward paced himself like never before this season, skipping several games so he could stay fresh and thrive in the final stretch. And the time spent resting paid off, as he scored 14 goals in his last nine matches, for his best run of the season.

He scored two consecutive hat tricks in the Champions League, one in the quarterfinals against Bayern Munich and another in the semifinals against Atletico Madrid. In Madrid's final three Spanish league games, he scored five goals to lead the team to their first title in five years.

Now a victory over Juventus on Saturday night will make him the overwhelming favourite to win his fifth Ballon D'or.

"Obviously what I want the most is to play more freely up front," Ronaldo said, "and that is the opportunity coach Zinedine Zidane has been giving me as a No. 9. I play freely. I play on the wing, down the middle. I play whenever I think I should."

Ronaldo, however, is unlikely to find much freedom against Juventus, a team with one of the best defenses in soccer. In 12 European games this season, Juventus have only conceded three goals and is looking to become the first undefeated champion since Manchester United in 2008.

At the heart of that Juventus defence is a guy looking to become the oldest Champions League winner: 39-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. A European title is the one major prize to elude the Italian in an illustrious career that has seen him lose two Champions League finals.

The club is also craving another European title. Juventus won the last of their two titles in 1996, while Madrid have won five since then to increase their record to 11 in the competition.

"We must go into the match with humility," Ronaldo said. "Juventus is a great team, but I think we are better. I have the feeling that we are going to play a great match and win. We are thinking positive."

It had been a lackluster season by Ronaldo's standards, and his slow start kept him from having a chance of reaching 50 goals for the first time since 2009-10, his debut season with Madrid. He has scored 40 goals so far.

He also struggled early in the Champions League, scoring only twice in his first eight games, but ended with eight goals in his last four matches, becoming the first player to break the 100-goal mark in the competition.

"We are in a great moment and we have to take advantage of it," Ronaldo said.

Ronaldo has done well when facing Juventus, having scored five goals in the four matches he played against the Italian champions while with Madrid. Two of the goals came in the semifinals of the Champions League in 2015, when Juventus advanced 3-2 before eventually losing the final to Barcelona.

Ronaldo criticised Madrid fans this week, saying that he was never booed by Man United fans like he was by Madrid supporters at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. He said that he enjoys Spain and intends to stay with the club until retiring, but misses his time in England.

"I don't like to be booed in my own stadium, I just don't like it," he said in an interview with Spanish television channel La Sexta. "You give everything you have, but at the first mistake you make, you get booed, that's not right. When things are not going your way, you need extra support. I played so many years in Manchester and that never happened."

Source: Khaleej Times