(Turin) Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese star of Juventus Turin, in quarantine for two weeks after positive tests for COVID-19, is again absent from the roster starting for the clash against Barcelona on Wednesday evening in the Champions League .  

The 35-year-old striker, top scorer in the history of the Champions League, exceeded the ten-day minimum quarantine time, but needed a negative test, at the latest by Tuesday evening, the day before the match, to hope to find his lifelong rival, Lionel Messi.

The reunion between the two legends is postponed to the return match on December 8 in Catalonia.

The player and his club waited in vain for the essential negative test on Tuesday.

According to Portuguese television TVI, Ronaldo "once again tested positive for COVID-19" on Tuesday. According to this channel, the star has already carried out 18 tests for COVID-19 since he tested positive with the Portuguese selection.

Asymptomatic and fit

Ronaldo, who is symptom-free, lives in isolation in his Turin home from where he posts images on social media showing him keeping fit.

“I feel good and healthy. Go Juve, ”he wrote on Wednesday in a first message to his more than 240 million subscribers on Instagram.

He then added a second message in capital letters: "PCR is bullshit" ("PCR IS BULLSHIT"), before removing it after leaving it for 90 minutes.

The game against Barcelona on Wednesday is the fourth that the Portuguese will miss, now hoped by his club for the next league meeting, Sunday against Spezia.  

The double confrontation between Juventus and FC Barcelona, ​​in the group stage of the C1, is the first face-to-face between Ronaldo and Messi since the La Liga clasicos, at the time when the Portuguese played for Real Madrid ( until 2018).