Juventus Vice President Pavel Nedved confirmed on Wednesday that Cristiano Ronaldo will remain at the Serie A giants until the end of his contract, amid rumors linking the superstar with a return to former club Real Madrid following Juve's exit from the Champions League earlier this month.

"As far as I am concerned, Ronaldo won't leave. He has a contract until June 2022, and he will stay. We'll see what will happen afterwards," Nedved told DAZN in a rare outspoken interview.

"Cristiano Ronaldo pushed us towards the Olympus of football, both technically and in terms of image. He scored more than 100 goals in 120 matches, and, besides, he dragged us into the Champions League," he added.

"He's a simple guy, although he may not look like that from the outside. He is the prototype of a modern player who has achieved incredible targets with immense talent and a lot of work."

However, former Juventus President Giovanni Cobolli Gigli insisted that Juventus were wrong to sign Ronaldo. "He was a wrong signing, absolutely," Gigli told Italian media outlet Radio Punto Nuovo.

"I had said it on his very first day at Juventus. He is a great champion, but he is too expensive. Now it's up to Juventus. They've been paying him 1 million euro per goal. [Juventus chairman] Agnelli must be self-critical, but he doesn't have great collaborators," Gigli observed

Ronaldo's teammate Alvaro Morata told Sky Sports that it is "hard for Ronaldo" to have not reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season.

"I see him OK, but when you are used to playing every quarter-finals of Champions League and winning it many times it is hard for him," Morata said. "It is also difficult for me and for the whole club, but we need to focus on the rest of our goals to achieve, the season is not over yet."

Meanwhile, Nedved also announced that Andrea Pirlo would be still in charge of the Turin club next season despite falling to a shock defeat to Benevento on Sunday that left them 10 points behind Serie A leaders Inter Milan.

"Pirlo is and will be the coach of Juventus, that's 100 percent certain," Nedved declared. "We committed to a project with Andrea, knowing that there would be difficulties. We wanted to do better than this and haven't managed to, but difficulties were predicted.

"We are very calm. We're on the path that we wanted, which we will stay on. He has everything to become a great coach."