In explaining Cristiano Ronaldo's omission from the Juventus squad to face Brescia on February 16, coach Maurizio Sarri quite reasonably pointed out that the 35-year-old "had to rest. He cannot play 75 games a year."
How Juve wish he could, though, because, at the moment, there is little more to Sarri's squad than their superstar No.7.
Indeed, the day before the Brescia game, the headline on the Corriere dello Sport read, "Ronaldo – and that's it!"
Granted, Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici was correct when he pointed out last week that the club had to put up with similarly negative press coverage at this stage of last season.
“We have had some very good performances, some less good, but that happens to all teams over the course of a year, with varying fitness levels," he told Sky Sport Italia.
"If we go back one, two, three years in February, we’ll see the exact same newspaper articles that we’re seeing now.
“We’re well aware of the period we are going through and are not remotely concerned.”
They should be, though. The headlines are the same this February because Juve's issues are the same as last February.
Ronaldo may have made a slow start to his second season in Italy but Juve have once again become utterly reliant on the forward for goals.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has scored in a record-equalling 11 consecutive Serie A appearances, netting 16 times in total.
That remarkable run stretches back to December 1, with Juve having racked up 38 goals in 17 games in all competitions.
Ronaldo accounts for half of that tally, despite sitting out two of those matches: the Coppa Italia last-16 tie against Udinese; and the aforementioned meeting with Brescia.
Getty
That Ronaldo is responsible for the majority of Juve's goals is unsurprising, of course; it would be in any team's interests to set themselves up to get the very best out of one of the most lethal finishers the game has ever seen.
Juve, like Real Madrid before them, are trying to play to Ronaldo's strengths. The problem is that Juve, unlike Real Madrid, do not look capable of winning the Champions League. They don't have a supporting cast worthy of the tournament's leading man.
The Bianconeri only got past the round of 16 last season because of Ronaldo's hat-trick in the sensational second-leg comeback against Atletico Madrid.
He also got both of their goals in the quarter-final loss to Ajax, meaning not one other Juve player managed to score in the knockout stage.
Incredibly, Juve now seem even more dependent on Ronaldo, and that's in spite of the fact that Paulo Dybala has rediscovered something resembling his best form and Gonzalo Higuain has proved a worthy foil up front.
In addition, Sarri replaced Massimiliano Allegri as coach last summer in the hope that he would enable Juve to play a more possession-orientated game better suited to winning in Europe.
The former Napoli boss may never have lifted the Champions League but the 61-year-old, who led Chelsea to the Europa League last season, has now gone 22 consecutive games without defeat in continental competition. Sir Alex Ferguson holds the managerial record, with 25 matches undefeated, between 2007 and 2009.
Unfortunately for Sarri, things are not going according to plan at Juve. The Old Lady may be top of Serie A and one game away from the Coppa Italia final but Sarri's side look even less dynamic than Allegri's, who were blown away by Ajax's movement, energy and passing just under 12 months ago.
And this is the crux of the issue: Ronaldo may be playing better than he was last season; but Juve most certainly are not.
Indeed, while Giorgio Chiellini's recovery from a serious knee injury is a massive boost for the squad ahead of Wednesday's last-16 first leg in Lyon, both from a defensive and psychological perspective, the defender's return will do nothing to cure the Old Lady's ills in midfield.
Juve's play has been painfully pedestrian for the majority of the current campaign, with their midfielders offering little protection to a Chiellini-less defence, and even less penetration going forward.
Centre-halves Leonardo Bonucci (four), Matthijs de Ligt (two), Chiellini (one) and Merih Demiral (one) have contributed eight goals in all competitions this season; that's as many as midfielders Miralem Pjanic (three), Aaron Ramsey (three), Blaise Matuidi (one), Rodrigo Bentancur (one), Sami Khedira (zero) and Adrien Rabiot (zero) combined.
Not one of them is performing anything close to their peak. Pjanic started the season well but his form has nosedived dramatically, which is why the Bianconeri no longer seem capable of controlling games for 90 minutes.
Matuidi and Khedira are past their best, Rabiot was a free transfer and yet looks like a total waste of money, while Bentancur hasn't been able to maintain his impressive rate of development.
Ramsey has shown flashes of what he can do – in between the unsurprising spells on the sidelines – but Saturday's excellently-taken goal at SPAL was just his third of the season.
The hope now is that Ramsey can build upon that fine strike, particularly if he gets an extended run of games in his preferred position on the right-hand side of a midfield three.
After all, the Wales international was expected to add a long overdue goal threat to the middle of the park when he joined on a free from Arsenal last summer.
However, there is no denying that this Juve midfield is far from vintage.
As the iconic Claudio Marchisio told the Gazzetta dello Sport after the conclusion of this season's group stage: "The midfield isn’t at the level it was when there was myself, [Andrea] Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba. You can see it from the goals scored and assists provided."
Indeed, it's worth noting that no Juve midfielder has hit double figures for goals since Pogba in 2015-16.
Of course, the Italian champions should have little trouble overcoming a struggling Lyon side still shorn of the services of Memphis Depay.
"If we go through it would be a great achievement," coach Rudi Garcia admitted to the Corriere earlier this week. "Especially without Depay, who is our Ronaldo. Imagine Juve without CR7!"
Their fans really rather wouldn't. If Juve didn't have Ronaldo fit and firing, they wouldn't be remotely confident of even eliminating Lyon, who are seventh in Ligue 1.
While watching the game against SPAL on Saturday, three-time Champions League winner Samuel Eto'o admitted to Sky Sport Italia that the thought occurred to him, "Juve are missing something."
And they are: a world-class midfield.
Sometimes when Sarri's side are attacking, it really does feel as if there's Ronaldo, and that's it.