Napoli defender Raul Albiol has warned his former Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo that he could struggle to score 40 goals for Juventus this season.

Ronaldo has hit that mark in eight straight seasons, passing 50 six times and 60 twice. But having swapped Madrid for Turin this summer, he’s failed to score in his first three Serie A appearances.

Albiol says the defensive nature of Serie A will make it difficult for Ronaldo to reach his usual prolific level.

“Cristiano’s a great player with tremendous quality, but in Italy it’ll be harder for him to score 40 goals,” the former Spain international told AS.

“Also, I hope he doesn’t because it would be good for Juventus but bad for Napoli.”

Nonetheless, Albion is backing his ex-colleague to get over his slow start to life in Italy, as he did with Madrid last season.

“He also started slowly with Madrid last season,” said Albiol.

“He didn’t score goals at the start of the campaign, yet he finished up again with some mindboggling numbers.

“If Cristiano has spent his entire career scoring bags of goals every season, it’s not by chance.”