Ronaldo scores as Juventus brush aside Bayer Leverkusen India bow out after 1-4 loss to Japan at BWF World Junior Mixed Team

TURIN: Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first goal in this season’s Champions League, sealing a 3-0 win for Juventus over Bayer Leverkusen in their Group D game in Turin on Tuesday. Ronaldo blasted in the third goal in the 89th minute to extend his record to 127 strikes in the competition to add to Gonzalo Higuain and Federico Bernardeschi’s ear

lier efforts.

Juventus move top of Group D, level on four points with Atletico Madrid, who defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0 in Russia. The Italian champions had been held 2-2 by the Spaniards at the Wanda Metropolitano in their opener. Leverkusen face an uphill battle after their shock 2-1 defeat at home against Lokomotiv Moscow and are rooted to the foot of the table.

Juventus next host Lokomotiv and Leverkusen travel to Atletico on October 22.

Maurizio Sarri opted for Higuain and Bernardeschi up front alongside five-time Ballon d’or winner Ronaldo.

Leverkusen were struggling from the outset after losing captain Lars Bender in the warm-up to a thigh problem, with defender Mitchell Weiser stepping in.

The Germans showed little to threaten the hosts, with Lucas Alario shooting over on three minutes with what would be their best chance of the game.

The breakthrough came for Juventus when Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah failed to head clear Juan Cuadrado’s long ball for Higuain, with the Argentine pouncing to drill home.

The 31-year-old Higuain, back in Turin after loan spells at AC Milan and Chelsea, had a chance for a second on 38 minutes but was denied by Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky.

Juventus piled on the pressure after the break as Ronaldo tried unsuccessfully to pull off an overhead kick in the 55th minute. Ronaldo then sent Higuain in behind, but although the Portuguese failed to connect with his teammate’s return pass, Bernardeschi was lurking to provide the finishing touch.

Juventus almost had a third with Hradecky failing to control the ball and almost turning it into his own net before grappling to save on the line. KAZAN (RUSSIA): India put up a spirited effort before going down 1-4 to higher-ranked Japan in their last Group E encounter to draw curtains on their campaign at the World Junior Mixed Team Championships here on Wednesday. Goa’s Tanisha Crasto and Chattisgarh’s Ishaan Bhatnagar continued their winning streak in the mixed doubles giving India a much-needed lead over Japan.

Tanisha’s precise smashes and Ishan’s dominant net play over Japan’s Kakeru Kumagai and Atsumi Miyazaki ensured a commanding start for the Indian duo as they bagged the mixed doubles match 21-18, 21-18 in 33 minutes.

However, that remained India’s highest point of the day as they lost the remaining matches to bow out of the competition.

In the girls’ singles, Gujarat’s Tasnim Mir, playing her first World championships, lost to Riko Gunji 9-21 12-21, while Manipur’s Maisnam Meiraba Luwang fought for a little over an hour before losing 17-21 21-17 21-23 to Takuma Kawamoto in boys singles.

In the doubles category, Treesa Jolly and Varshini Viswanath Sri lost to Kaho Osawa and Hinata Suzuki 12-21, 22-24 and with this defeat, India lost its chance to level the score. In the last match of the tie, Manipur duo of Manjit Singh Khwairakpam and Dingku Singh Konthoujam were beaten 16-21, 14-21 by Yoshifumi Fujisawa and Kakeru Kumagai in a 26 minutes match.