Cristiano Ronaldo returned to training with Juventus in Turin yesterday after an absence of over two months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 35-year-old arrived at the Juventus Training Centre in a Jeep with tinted window, leaving three hours later with a smile and thumbs up for waiting photographers.
Ronaldo underwent medical and physical tests before joining up with his teammates for the first time in 72 days for individual training, according to media reports.
Coach Maurizio Sarri has been conducting training in small groups since Monday, pending the final health protocol to be agreed with the Italian government. Juventus players got back to individual training on May 4, the day Ronaldo returned to Italy after spending lockdown in his native Portugal.
For the past two weeks, he has been in quarantine in his villa in Turin.
Ronaldo played in Juventus’ last Serie A game before the season was suspended, a 2-0 win over Inter Milan behind closed doors at the Allianz Stadium on March 8.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is the first Juventus foreign player, among those who left Italy during the lockdown, to return to the team’s Continassa training centre.
Italy has been one of the countries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 32,000 deaths.
League leaders Juventus are leading Lazio by one point as they target a ninth consecutive ‘Scudetto’.