It has been 35 years since Juventus won Europe’s most prestigious cup. Back then, it was obviously known as the European Cup, whilst today we refer to it as the Champions League. You can always tell that it has been a while since a team last won a certain competition when it has undergone a renaming during their days in the wilderness.

Then again, wilderness may be slightly harsh, as the Turin club has finished as the runners up five times since 1985. That, as you can imagine, has only made their desire to ditch the tag of the eternal bridesmaid that much stronger. It has though, driven them to make some mistakes in the transfer market and you’d have to say that the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid looks to have been a gross miscalculation of the player’s ability to deliver Champions League glory.

One could even go as far as to say that they could have predicted this without the assistance of hindsight. Of course, with the Portuguese superstar edging towards a move away from the Allianz Stadium without Juve having won the Champions League during his time at the club, there is the temptation to say just this, but when has one man ever delivered long term success by himself on a football field?

What’s more, the Champions League is the most gruelling of competitions. Indeed, it is played over the course of ten months and involves travelling to the most daunting cathedrals of European football during some of the most testing conditions of the year. One week you’re in the determined rain of Manchester, the next you’re in the baltic conditions of Ukraine in front of a crowd that is baying for blood. There isn’t one particular magic bullet that will see a team overcome these challenges.

It helps to have match-winners, sure, but no one is guaranteed Champions League success just because they have these players on their team. Juve’s decision to bring him in to help win the Champions League does seem overly simplistic. Indeed, it’s a rather ordinary answer to a complex riddle that hasn’t been solved in 35 years.

This, of course, isn’t suggesting that the 35-year-old has underperformed whilst at Juventus. In 94 matches, he has scored 71 goals for the Italian giants and helped them to win their ninth successive Serie A title.

The league domination doesn’t look like stopping either this season, given that it should be ten in a row with Juve at short odds of 7/4 in Serie A betting to claim a decade of league titles. When you look at Juventus’ domestic success of late, you could even argue that Ronaldo’s annual salary of £27 million was justified, given most of his goals came in the league. In fact, 58 of his 71 Juve goals were scored in Serie A.

But that does then require a conversation about the standard of competition in Italy’s top-flight and whether you need someone like Ronaldo to help Juventus win the league. It seems like the nuclear option when you consider that Juve are on the verge of winning ten titles in a row.

Succeeding in Europe, however, is a lot more complicated and requires more of a footballing philosophy than the presence of a global superstar in the starting eleven. Perhaps if Juventus were to knock on Pep Guardiola’s door or even Jose Mourinho’s, they would finally find the answer.