Cristiano Ronaldo came in for criticism from a number of angles as his side were dumped out of the Champions League last week, but Diego Forlan states that he silenced those in just 30 minutes.

While the Portuguese failed to find the net in 210 minutes of Champions League action against Porto, he followed up their disappointing exit with a 30-minutes hat-trick against Cagliari in Serie A.

Diego Forlan believes the criticism of CR7 was unjust, and he believes that the superstar is still at the top of his game, and blame for their exit should be shared throughout the team.

“But how do you discuss someone like Cristiano Ronaldo?” Forlan told TMW (via TuttoJuve). “CR7 is still at a very high level, I don’t understand how many could have blamed him for the elimination of Juventus against Porto.

“The results depend on the team and not on the individuals, I would say with the hat-trick scored against Cagliari in just 30 minutes of play Cristiano made the pitch speak for the umpteenth time, immediately silencing a week of insipid criticism.”

Ronaldo certainly wasn’t at his best against Porto, he missed uncharacteristic chances, he wasn’t dominant with his dribbling and his free-kicks were not troubling the goalkeeper either.

While the team of course has to share blame, especially for the faults in defence, Ronaldo is the guy who is paid the big money for the big occasions, and this is why he is singled out on this occasion.

I’m not saying he will no longer turn up on the big occasions, but the criticism on him for our exit was mostly justified I believe.

Do you believe he deserves the attention after our exit?

Patrick