Allegri pleased with Ronaldo debut as Juve leave it late in opener
JUVENTUS came from behind to snatch a dramatic 3-2 win at Chievo as Cristiano Ronaldo (left) made his debut for the Italian champions.
Sami Khedira put Juve ahead after three minutes but the visitors were stunned when Mariusz Stepinski levelled seven minutes before the break.
Emanuele Giaccherini then converted a penalty against his former club to give Chievo a shock lead in the 56th minute – only for Mattia Bani, under pressure from the re-signed Leonardo Bonucci, to deflect a corner into his own net.
Juventus then had a goal disallowed for handball by Ronaldo but, in their next attack, Federico Bernardeschi turned the ball in to clinch victory for the reigning champions.
“Physically, Ronaldo held out well on his debut considering he has only been training with us for seven days and he did really well,” Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri said.
“He pulled their defence around, he moved between the lines and, on several occasions, he wasn’t served with the ball. You can already see that he is a different player.
“I was struck by how easily he has blended into the team and, like us all, he was very happy with the win at the end.”
Elsewhere, Lionel Messi scored twice – his first was Barcelona’s 6,000th La Liga goal – to help the champions get off to a winning start with a 3-0 win over Alaves.
Barca came closest to opening the scoring in a quiet opening 30 minutes, with Luis Suarez, making his 200th appearance for the club, firing just over the crossbar.
Messi, who also scored the club’s 5,000th league goal in 2009, fired a free-kick against the bar after 38 minutes but the game remained scoreless at the break.
Philippe Coutinho came on for
Nelson Semedo at the start of the second half but it was Messi who broke the deadlock in the 64th minute, firing a low free-kick under the wall and into the bottom corner.
Brazilian Coutinho added a second seven minutes from time, collecting the ball on the edge of the area and showing some quick feet before curling home. Messi slotted in a third in the first minute of stoppage time to seal a routine win.
Meanwhile, in France, Gianluigi Buffon faced the son of one his former team-mates when the legendary goalkeeper lined out for PSG’s 3-1 win over Guingamp.
The 40-year-old Italian came up against Marcus Thuram (21), the son of World Cup winner Lilian, who played with Buffon at Parma from 1996 to 2001 and then later at Juventus from 2001-06.
Marcus was born in Parma in 1997, two years before Buffon and Lilian won the Coppa Italia and Uefa Cup there.
Buffon joined PSG in July on a free transfer after 17 years with Juventus and the Italian World Cup winner is now team-mates with the son of a former rival.
Timothy Weah (18) is the son of ex-PSG and AC Milan forward George, now the president of Liberia.