Cristiano Ronaldo Rescues Juventus In Late Comeback
Cristiano Ronaldo was Juventus’ hero on Sunday as the recently dethroned former Italian champions came from behind to win 2-1 at Udinese, gaining ground on Atalanta and Napoli in the race for a top four finish.
The Portuguese netted twice in Friuli Venezia Giulia to rescue something on a bad day for the Bianconeri, who had seen Inter wrap up the Serie A title earlier in the day to end their nine-year stranglehold on the Scudetto.
What had already been a day to forget looked set to get even worse when Udinese took a surprise lead early on. With Udinese awarded a freekick, Rodrigo De Paul cleverly played a quick pass down the right to Nahuel Molina, with Juventus still organising themselves defensively. Through on goal, Molina fired past Wojciech Szczesny.
Weston McKennie missed a huge chance as he headed wide from close range and Paulo Dybala forced a save from Simone Scuffet, but Juventus were relatively quiet.
Dejan Kulusevski replaced Federico Bernardeschi and things improved for the visitors from there, but it took an error of judgment from De Paul to gift them a chance to level.
Standing in a defensive wall, the Argentine stuck out an arm to block a Cristiano Ronaldo freekick and conceded a penalty that the Juventus No.7 converted.
Then, late on, Ronaldo was on the end of an Adrien Rabiot cross to beat Scuffet and seal the points for Juventus, sparking jubilant scenes of celebration that saw Andrea Pirlo booked.
