What Cristiano Ronaldo told ex-Manchester United team-mate Patrice Evra on WhatsApp before Atletico Madrid hat-trick

By Alasdair Mackenzie
published

Patrice Evra has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo told him Juventus were going to “smash” Atletico Madrid ahead of their remarkable Champions League comeback this week.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The Italian giants trailed 2-0 on aggregate going into the second leg in Turin, but a superb hat-trick from Ronaldo turned the tie on its head and sent Juve through to the quarter-finals.

Evra, who played alongside the Portuguese forward during his time at Manchester United before spending two-and-a-half seasons with the Turin giants, published the text messages he'd exchanged with Ronaldo in the build-up to the game, with the former Real Madrid star assuring him: “We gonna pass bro. Home we smash them.”

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Alasdair Mackenzie

Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.