Ronaldo keeps Juventus perfect in Serie A
MILAN: Cristiano Ronaldo erased the frustration of his Champions League red card by scoring the opener and setting up Federico Bernardeschi for a second as Juventus maintained their perfect record in Serie A after five games with a 2- 0 win at promoted Frosinone on Sunday.
The Por tuguese star had threatened several times at the Stadio Benito Stirpe but finally found a way through nine minutes from time, and then helped substitute Bernardeschi to score Juve’s second four minutes into injury time.
The f ive- time Bal lon d’Or winner had scored his first goals last week with a double in a 2-1 win over Sassuolo, before the 33year- old was sent off in tears on Wednesday in a 2- 0 Champions League win over Valencia.
Juventus – the only unbeaten team in Serie A – have 15 points from five games, three points ahead of Napoli who beat Torino 3-1 earlier on Sunday.
Seven-time reigning champions Juventus and Napoli, last season’s runners-up, will go head-to-head next Saturday in Turin.
Frosinone had frustrated the champions for long periods but caved in late and have now conceded 12 goals to remain second bottom of the table with just one point.
“We expected this type of match. Frosinone had conceded five (goals) to Sampdoria and we played with 10 men for 70 minutes against Valencia on Wednesday,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
“We just needed to have patience and after many shots, crosses and passes, we found the breakthrough.”
Fiorentina and Sassuolo are joint third on ten points after beating SPAL ( 3- 0) and Empoli ( 3-1) respectively this weekend.
Earlier Lorenzo Insigne bagged a brace to inspire Napoli to a 31 win in Torino, while Roma plunged further into crisis with a 2- 0 loss at Bologna.
In Turin, Ancelotti switched things around following Napoli’s uninspiring goalless draw at Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League midweek.
Insigne played a more central role along with Dries Mertens as defender Sebastiano Luperto got his first start for the Serie A runners-up.
“I’m satisfied, we dominated in Belgrade but we couldn’t finish things off like we did today,” said Ancelotti. — AFP