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Ronaldo 'fired up' and ready to go in the Champions League after timely rest call at Juventus

Andrea Pirlo says Cristiano Ronaldo is “fired up” and ready to go ahead of Juventus’ crunch Champions League clash with Porto.

The five-time Ballon d’Or was handed a timely rest by the Bianconeri on Saturday as they saw off Lazio 3-1 in Serie A, with Alvaro Morata bagging a brace that allowed an illustrious colleague to see just 21 minutes of game time off the bench.

That cameo appearance has helped Ronaldo to keep ticking over, with an all-time great readying himself for another outing on the kind of stage that he usually dazzles on – with Juve needing inspiration from somewhere as they seek to overturn a 2-1 first leg deficit.