Cristiano Ronaldo injury: Juventus coach Allegri provides update ahead of Champions League clash vs. Ajax

The Champions League dream lives on in Turin after Juventus' amazing comeback against Atletico Madrid in March to advance to the quarterfinals. A red-hot Ajax squad stands in the way, with Cristiano Ronaldo's status up in the air. Ronaldo picked up a thigh injury with the Portuguese national team in March and is racing to be fit for UCL action next week and the following week. The first leg against Ajax is on April 10 at 3 p.m. ET, and you can watch it on fuboTV (Try for free).

Juve coach Massimo Allegri spoke to the media on Monday, and said Ronaldo is working to get back to fitness.

"We hope to have him ready for Ajax, but it will be difficult," Allegri said.

It goes without saying that Juventus' chances take a blow without Ronaldo, and it gives Ajax a much better chance of moving on. With Ronaldo, Juve is the heavy favorite to go through to the semifinals, but the Dutch side is riding a wave of confidence by following up their elimination of Real Madrid by beating PSV last weekend. Ronaldo has more goals than anybody else in UCL history with 124, 16 more than Lionel Messi.

Allegri did seem confident though that he will have a near-fit squad against Ajax, but Ronaldo's situation isn't the only headache. Juan Cuadrado is still trying to recover from injury, Paulo Dybala has had a bit of a knock and Mario Mandzukic has had a fever. But the team is expected to get Douglas Costa back healthy before then, Allegri said.

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