OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Cristiano Ronaldo has recovered from COVID-19

As Juventus gets ready to enter the second half of this busy three-week stretch, Andrea Pirlo now knows he will have one of his most important players back on the field.

Juventus announced Friday that Cristiano Ronaldo has finally gotten the negative COVID-19 test that he so desperately desired. It’s obviously not at the time that he wanted seeing as he was so hellbent on returning to the field when Juve were set to play Barcelona earlier in the week, but he is now set to return to the field as Pirlo’s squad looks to again get back on the right foot over the course of the next three games before another international break arrives.

We will see Saturday just what Pirlo has to say about Ronaldo’s status for this weekend’s trip to Spezia, but you have to imagine that he’s going to be in the starting lineup against Ferencvaros on Wednesday night at the very latest.

The brief statement from Juventus is as follows:

Cristiano Ronaldo carried out a check with a diagnostic test (swab) for Covid 19.

The exam provided a negative result. The player has, therefore, recovered after 19 days and is no longer subjected to home isolation.

The big thing with Ronaldo’s return — besides the fact that he’s now clear of the virus after being asymptomatic for three weeks — is finally get to see how Pirlo will work in the trio of CR7, a red-hot Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala. Maybe Spezia isn’t going to be the first true indication of what Pirlo is thinking since it’s right after Ronaldo’s negative test after not training for three weeks and it’s the game before the Champions League fixture, but it’s the first game when all three players will be available.

So, who knew that we’d be so interested in a starting lineup Ferencvaros, right?

But that’s where we now find ourselves with Ronaldo back and Juventus obviously needing some kind of jumpstart after struggling for large portions of three of their last four games. And just from a confidence standpoint, you know Sunday’s game against Spezia is something that they need to win — yes, even more than usual when playing a team that was in Serie B a couple of months ago.