Ronaldo Brace Leads Juventus Comeback Win
By Max Wise
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two second-half goals as Juventus came from a goal down to beat Empoli 2-1 at the Stadio Carlo Castellani on Saturday.
Ronaldo canceled Francesco Caputo’s 28th-minute goal with a spot-kick in the 54th minute, before fetching the winner in the 79th minute with a stunning shot from behind the penalty box.
The Serie A defending champions are back on winning ways with the win after dropping their first points of the 2018/19 season with a 1-1 draw at home to Genoa on match day-9
Ronaldo’s brace puts his Serie A goal tally to seven, and Massimiliano Allegri's men are still top of the table with 28 points as the struggling Empoli occupies the 18th spot with six points.
The game started with both sides enjoying an equal amount of possession, but failing to test each other’s resolve.
It took 27 minutes to register the match day-10 encounter’s first real chance, and Francesco Caputo made the most of it as he used that to send his side into the lead.
The ball rebounded and arrived at the feet of Caputo just outside the box. The Italian forward fired a brilliant shot inside the left post, far beyond the reach of Wojciech Szczesny.
Empoli had a penalty appeal denied by referee Gianpaolo Calvarese in the 45th minute when an in-swinger from Hamed Traore appeared to have hit Leonardo Bonucci’s hand in the Italian defender’s attempt to clear his lines.
The two sides exhibited the same level of control after the restart, but Ivan Provedel stopped Miralem Pjanic from hitting the roof of the net in the 50th minute when he dived to tip the Bosnian’s thunder strike onto the bar and off to safety.
Ismael Bennacer went into a challenge with Paulo Dybala three minutes after, and the Juventus forward fell to the ground as the referee awarded a penalty to the visitors. Cristiano Ronaldo stepped out to it and delivered away from the goalkeeper with his strike into the left corner.
The Portuguese goal-machine secured Juventus the winner in the 70th minute when he latched on to a pass from 25 yards out, and controlled it with a good first touch before unleashing a deadly strike into the top of the left corner.
