Juventus 2-0 Roma: Cristiano Ronaldo fires Juve into third in Serie A with third league win in a row
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ByEurosport
Updated 06/02/2021 at 20:38 GMT
Serie A, Allianz Stadium - Juventus 2 (Ronaldo 13', Ibanez og 69') Roma 0
Cristiano Ronaldo
Image credit: Getty Images
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 23rd goal of the season and his third this week as clinical Juventus leapfrogged Roma into third with victory over Paulo Fonseca's side.
A day removed from celebrating his 36th birthday, the Portuguese continues to belie his age with another supreme performance. He opened the scoring to give Juve the lead in the 13th-minute with a precision left-footed strike from the edge of the box, and a short while later was denied a first-half brace by the crossbar.
Roma enjoyed the lion's share of possession in the opening 45 minutes, and although Juve had to absorb a lot of pressure, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny didn't have a save to make.
It was more of the same from the visitors after the restart, although the introduction of out-of-favour striker Edin Dzeko gave Roma more impetus, without reward.
And with 20 minutes remaining, Juventus sealed the points. Substitute Dejan Kulusevski raced down the right and rolled a ball across the face of goal, searching for Ronaldo but inadvertently bundled over the line by defender Roger Ibanez for an unfortunate own-goal.
Juventus, clicking into gear as the business end of the season approaches, climb above Roma into third, closing the gap on leaders Inter to five points having played a game less.
TALKING POINT - A week for Ronaldo to savour
Three goals in four days, celebrating a 36th birthday - it has certainly been a week for Ronaldo to savour. His brace in the first-leg against Inter on Tuesday past proved the difference as his side took a step closer to the Coppa Italia final, and the Portuguese was clinical once more as Juventus continue to build momentum domestically.
In his 20th year as a professional, Ronaldo joked this week he could not play for another 20. But with 23 goals in 24 games this season, such form suggests there is plenty of life in the old dog yet.
He has been central to Juventus' renaissance. Since suffering a humilating defeat to Inter on January 17 - a loss that saw them slip to fifth and seven points adrift of leaders AC Milan having played the same number of games - the Old Lady have chalked up six straight victories. Thanks to their red-hot form, they are still fighting on three fronts, as they bid for a 10th straight title.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Ronaldo showed tremendous agility to score an opener few other players on the pitch would have been capable of to set Juventus on their way to victory.
PLAYER RATINGS
Juventus: Szczesny 6, Danilo 6, Bonucci 7, Chiellini 7, Alex Sandro 7, McKennie 6, Arthur 7, Rabiot 8, Chiesa 6, Morata 7, Ronaldo 8.. subs: Demiral N/A, De Ligt N/A, Bernardeschi N/A, Kulusevski 7, Cuadrado 6.
Roma: Pau Lopez 5, Mancini 5, Ibanez 5, Kumbulla 5, Karsdorp 6, Villar 5, Cristante 5, Veretout 5, Spinazzola 7, Mkhitaryan 7, Mayoral 5.. subs: Diawara 5, Dzeko 6, Perez 5, Peres 5.
KEY MOMENTS
13' - GOAL! Juventus 1-0 Roma (Cristiano Ronaldo): A goal against the run of play! And who else but Cristiano Ronaldo! Sandro races down the left flank, feeds it to Morata, who tees up Ronaldo on the edge of the box. He takes a touch before slotting a left-footed shot into the bottom corner with supreme precision to give Pau Lopez no chance.
22' - Ronaldo hits the bar! His first touch is excellent and then his shot takes a huge deflection off Kumbulla. It crashes off the crossbar and bounces away to safety!
70' - GOAL! Juventus 2-0 Roma (Roger Ibanez own-goal): Game over?! Kulusevski races down the right, looks up and tries to pick out Ronaldo with a pass across the face of goal. Before he can pounce, though, Ibanez races in and inadvertently bundles the ball over the line!
KEY STATS
- Cristiano Ronaldo has been directly involved in 84 goals since his Serie A debut (2018/19), recording 68 goals and 16 assists, more than any other player in the competition.
- Juventus made their sixth clean sheet in the current Serie A campaign: in four of these six games Giorgio Chiellini was on the pitch.
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