RONALDO BREAKS HIS DUCK
Star’s brace helps Juventus maintain perfect start
CRISTIANO Ronaldo scored his first competitive goals for Juventus on Sunday, with a second-half double that ensured a 21 win over Sassuolo to make it four victories from as many Serie A games.
But there was controversy in Turin as Juventus winger Douglas Costa was sent off late on after being caught on camera spitting at Sassuolo’s Federico Di Francesco.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo, who arrived amid great pomp and ceremony following a move from Real Madrid, tapped in from barely a yard out after a goalmouth scramble on 50 minutes.
The 33-year-old added a second 15 minutes later following a counter-attack orchestrated by Emre Can as the defending seven-time Italian champions moved three points clear of Napoli.
“I’m happy. I worked hard and I knew that the goals would come,” said Ronaldo. “I thank my teammates who really helped me and allowed me to adapt to Italian football.”
Ronaldo — Real’s record alltime goalscorer — showed his frustration, however, kicking the post as he missed two more chances.
“This is football. The important thing is that the team win. I was a little tense with all the talk after my move from Real Madrid and not scoring, so there were a lot of expectations, but I thank my teammates for supporting me throughout.”
Khouma Babacar headed in a consolation goal for Sassuolo in injury-time.
Costa later apologised for his late red card for elbowing and spitting at Di Francesco — the 24year-old son of Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco.
“I would like to apologise to all the Juventus fans for my wrong reaction during today’s game,” wrote Costa on Instagram.
“I also apologise to my teammates, who are always by my side, in good and bad times. It was ugly, I am aware of that and I apologise to everyone for that.”
Juventus, who begin their Champions League’s quest at Valencia tomorrow, are the only unbeaten side after Napoli inflicted a first loss on Fiorentina on Saturday with a 1-0 win ahead of this week’s Champions League trip to Red Star Belgrade.
Roma’s confidence was dented ahead of their daunting midweek trip to Champions League holders Real, as bottom club Chievo came from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw at the Stadio Olimpico.
Roma are ninth with five points from four games — already seven points adrift of Juventus — and also behind city rivals Lazio who won at Empoli with Marco Parolo scoring the only goal.
• MADRID: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi may at most times appear to be a celestial being, but the forward has revealed which element of football he struggles with the most.
Despite frequently stepping up to take spot kicks for both his club and country, Messi has admitted penalties are his weakness and something he needs to improve.
“I would like to be more effective from the penalty spot,” Messi told Radio Catalunya. “But it’s difficult to work on penalties. It’s not the same taking them in training as it is in a game. You can have an idea in your head or something you have worked on, but it’s more difficult than it seems.
“The goalkeeper has a lot to do with it, too. If they guess right, they save it. But it’s obvious that I’d like to get better at taking penalties.”
Messi starred for Barca as the club continued their unbeaten run in La Liga this season by pulling off a 2-1 comeback victory against Real Sociedad.
The Argentine was unable to get among the goals, with Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele providing the firepower to achieve all three points and retain first place in La Liga.
Real Madrid lost ground after a 1-1 stalemate at Athletic Bilbao with Atletico Madrid also slipping back in the title race by drawing 11 at home to Eibar.
• PARIS: Dimitri Payet scored a stunning goal as Marseille thrashed Guingamp 4-0 at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday to move second in the Ligue 1 table.
After Florian Thauvin had opened the scoring early in the second half, Payet met a dipping ball 30 yards from goal with a magnificent side-footed volley which flew into the net off the crossbar.
Thauvin added another spectacular goal late on, and Payet teed up Kostas Mitroglou to finish off a blistering second-half display.
Rudi Garcia’s Marseille took second place from Lille in the table on goal difference, but remain five points adrift of reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain, who brushed aside Saint-Etienne 4-0 on Friday.
“Getting two straight wins has given us second place, so it’s easy to get there, but it’s more difficult to stay there,” said Marseille coach Garcia.
• BERLIN: Bayern Munich, who kick off their Champions League campaign this week at Benfica, will be without Corentin Tolisso for several months after he suffered a torn cruciate ligament and meniscus and will need surgery.
The Frenchman was injured in their 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, as was defender Rafinha, who will also be sidelined for some time with an ankle ligament problem.
Former Germany striker Mario Gomez scored twice in VfB Stuttgart’s 3-3 draw at Freiburg in his 300th league appearance on Sunday. The goals took his alltime league tally to 165, more than any other active German player in the Bundesliga.
“I would happily trade both my goals for three points.” Gomez said. “We showed heart today and showed again that we are a good team.”
Meanwhile, no fewer than 13 substitutes scored over the weekend — a Bundesliga record.
All three goals in Mainz 05’s 2-1 win over Augsburg were scored by substitutes. In that game, Mainz also fielded their youngest side for a Bundesliga encounter with an average age of just over 23-1/2.