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Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus acknowledges the fans as he celebrates after winning the Italian Supercup match between Juventus and AC Milan at King Abdullah Sports City on January 16, 2019 in Jeddah.
“This was why Juventus brought me here,” remarked Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo after he dragged his side back from a two-goal deficit and into the Champions League quarter-finals.
He may have been referring to his goals on the soccer field, but the knock-on effect will no doubt please the owners of his current employers Juventus.
Following the result, the club’s share price rose sharply Wednesday, opening 20 percent higher and was still up by 17 percent at 2:30 p.m. London time.
Ronaldo’s impact in Tuesday night’s win — a stunning hat-trick against Atletico Madrid — earned the Italian champions about 10.5 million euros ($11.8 million) in additional payments for making the last eight of the Champions League. It last won Europe’s premier club soccer competition in 1996.
That cash is added to the 9.5 million euros the Italian club received for reaching the last 16.
Juventus are controlled by Exor, the investment holding of Italy’s Agnelli family, which owns nearly 64 percent of the soccer team.
The Turin-based club paid 100 million euros to Spanish club Real Madrid to secure Ronaldo’s transfer last summer. In the 24 hours following the deal being announced, Juventus had sold over half a million replica shirts with Ronaldo’s name and number seven.
He turned 34 years old in February, but has just over three years to run on his current Juventus contract, which pays him 30 million euros a year.
