Ronaldo Ends Goal Drought With Brace Against Sassuolo

By Danny Ward

Cristiano Ronaldo opened his Juventus goal accounts with a brace on Sunday as the champions beat Sassuolo 2-1 to maintain their unbeaten run in the 2018/19 Serial A season.

Ronaldo failed to score in Juventus’ first three games following his arrival from Real Madrid for €100 million in the summer transfer window, but changed the scrolls with two second-half goals as the ‘Old Ladies’ won their fourth consecutive game to remain top of the table.

Manuel Locatelli shot wide from close range in the 6th minute, and Ronaldo registered Juventus’ first chance three minutes later with a strike which blocked to a corner kick, before heading off target in the 11th minute.

Emre Can attacked the Sassuolo penalty box in the 19th minute but shot wide as Filip Djurisic received the first booking of the day with a yellow card in the 23rd minute.

Mario Mandzukic shot wide on the half-hour mark, and Domenico Berardi got booked three minutes later, a minute before Ronaldo shot off target from outside the penalty box.

Juventus’ Cancelo received a yellow card in the 37th minute for a bad tackle on Kelvin-Prince Boateng, six minutes after which Mehdi Bourabia closed the half with a yellow card for a foul on Alex Sandro.

Ronaldo broke the deadlock five minutes after the restart when he capitalised on a loosed ball to hit home from inside the penalty box.

Kevin- Prince Boateng almost responded for the visitors two minutes later but saw his strike miss the post.

Roberto De Zerbi replaced Filip Djuricic with Federico Di Francesco in the 61st minute, and Massimiliano Allegri responded, his opposite number a minute later by bringing on Douglas Costa for Mario Mandzukic.

Emre Can surged forward in the 65th minute and a perfect through ball to Ronaldo saw the Portuguese icon shooting into the bottom corner with his left foot.

Rodrigo Bentancur replaced Emre Can in the 71st minute, and Cristian Dell'Orco followed up a minute later to replace Rogerio before Allegri made his third swap of the day by bringing on Juan Cuadrado for Alex Sandro in the 80th minute.

Khouma Babacar came on for Manuel Locatelli in the 83rd minute, and drew a consolation goal for the visitors a minute into injury time when he headed in Cristian Dell'Ocro's cross into the bottom right corner from the centre of the box.

Douglas Costa got booked for a silly challenge on Di Francesco in the 91st minute and received the marching off orders a minute later for spitting on Di Francesco.