Ronaldo makes history as Juventus go top
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to set yet another goalscoring landmark and help Juventus to a 3-1 home win over Udinese on Sunday that sent them back to the top of the Serie A table.
In-form Ronaldo, who has five goals in his last four games, took his tally for the season to 11 in 19 appearances, becoming the only player in Europe’s top five leagues to hit double figures in all competitions in each of the last 15 seasons.
“This is how we should play, with confidence. Individual performances aren’t what matters, but the collective effort.”
Udinese remain in relegation trouble after falling to 17th place on 15 points, hovering just two points above the drop zone.
Gianluigi Buffon started in goal for Juventus to match Alessandro Del Piero’s club record of 478 Serie A appearances, while Ronaldo was given the rare opportunity to start in an attacking trident alongside Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain.
They needed just nine minutes to find the breakthrough when Dybala’s deflected shot fell into the path of Ronaldo, who fired in a low finish from the edge of the box.
After Dybala looked to have made it 2-0 with a sublime lob only for it to be ruled out for handball in the build-up, Ronaldo scored again after 37 minutes, latching on to Higuain’s through ball to smash a shot into the bottom corner.
The game was over as a contest by half-time after Merih Demiral rose to head a corner towards the six-yard box, where Bonucci was on hand to nod in off the crossbar.
Ronaldo came close to a hat-trick in the second half when his powerful shot was palmed onto the post by Udinese goalkeeper Juan Musso.
The excellent Buffon was denied a clean sheet at the death when Pussetto prodded in from close range.
Elsewhere, European hopefuls Atalanta lost 2-1 at Bologna to miss out on the chance to move into the top four.
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Gian Piero Gasperini’s side remain sixth after goals from Rodrigo Palacio and Andrea Poli put Bologna in command before Ruslan Malinovskiy pulled one back.