Ronaldo recovers from red card misery to help Juve win
milan — Cristiano Ronaldo shrugged off the disappointment of his midweek sending off to score a late goal as Juventus preserved its perfect Serie A start on Sunday.
Ronaldo pounced nine minutes from time to set Juventus on its way to a 2-0 win at newly promoted Frosinone, which has still to score a goal this season.
It was Ronaldo’s third goal in two Italian league games after the Portugal star took a while to get off the mark for his new club following his move from Real Madrid.
Ronaldo had been sent off in Juventus’ 2-0 win at Valencia in the Champions League on Wednesday after appearing to pull at an opponent’s hair.
“No one expected anything different from Cristiano, he will score so many goals and he is the least of our problems,” Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini said. “He was unlucky Wednesday but he will always be decisive in our matches.”
Ronaldo came close to scoring early on at Frosinone but was denied by a goal-line clearance from Marco Capuano.
Juventus struggled to break Frosinone down but, just as it looked as though its 100 percent record this season was set to end, Miralem Pjanic’s scuffed shot ricocheted into Ronaldo’s path and he swept it home.
Ronaldo also sparked the counterattack which led to Juventus’ second goal, which was finished off by Federico Bernardeschi.
Napoli seems to be finding its feet under new coach Carlo Ancelotti and Lorenzo Insigne is reveling in his more central role.
Insigne scored twice to help Napoli win 3-1 at Torino in a dominant performance from last season’s runner-up.
Torino gifted Insigne the first goal with less than four minutes on the clock. Emiliano Moretti attempted to clear Sebastiano Luperto’s cross but it came off Torino teammate Nicolas N’Koulou and straight into the path of Insigne, who drove the ball in under the crossbar.
Simone Verdi doubled Napoli’s lead in the 20th with his first goal since joining from Bologna in the offseason. The Italy forward started the move in midfield before passing to Dries Mertens on the left and racing into the area to fire in the return pass.
Torino got back into the game when Andrea Belotti converted a penalty early in the second half after Alejandro Berenguer had been brought down by Luperto.
However, the hosts gifted Napoli another easy goal shortly afterward. Armando Izzo lost possession in midfield to Marek Hamsik, who picked out Jose Callejon. —