Serie A wrap, Sunday: Ronaldo rescues Juventus

Cristiano Ronaldo helped himself to a brace twice as Juventus drew 2-2 draw with Roma in Serie A’s standout fixture on Sunday.
Juventus were reduced to ten men in the second half as the Turin club’s French star, Adrien Rabiot was sent off at the Stadio Olimpico.

The Serie A champions cruised to victory against Sampdoria in Andrea Pirlo’s first game in charge last weekend but they looked badly off the pace at Stadio Olimpico against a Roma side full of verve, vigour and no little skill.

Roma started brightly and should been in front after 12 minutes but Henrikh Mkhitaryan fired straight at Wojciech Szczesny after an exhilarating run from inside his own half.

The hosts did forge ahead shortly after the half-hour mark when Veretout squeezed home from the penalty spot after Rabiot had blocked the Frenchman’s powerful shot with his arm. That woke Juve from their slumber and they pulled level shortly before the interval, Ronaldo slotting into the bottom-right corner from 12 yards after Lorenzo Pellegrini had handled the Portugal superstar’s pass inside the area.

Veretout restored Roma’s advantage two minutes later, however, taking advantage of generous Juve defending to collect Mkhitaryan’s pass in acres of space and slot past Szczesny. Edin Dzeko squandered a golden opportunity to add a third shortly before the hour mark, clipping the outside of the post from 10 yards with scarcely a Juve defender in sight.

The visitors’ task was made harder in the 62nd minute when Rabiot was given his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card for a foul on Mkhitaryan. Juve’s numerical disadvantage was of little concern to Ronaldo, though, who towered above a posse of Roma defenders to seal a point from Danilo’s cross in the 69th minute.

He might be 35, but Ronaldo does not look like slowing down anytime soon. He had more shots than the rest of his team-mates combined and proved his athleticism is not diminished, powering above three Roma defenders to score his second.

In the day’s early kickoff, Francesco Caputo had two goals disallowed but his 76th minute effort eventually counted as Sassuolo beat Spezia 4-1 at Orogel Stadium-Dino Manuzzi.

Andrea Favilli was Hellas Verona’s match-winner as his strike, three minutes before the hour gave I Gialloblu a slim 1-0 win over Udinese at Stadio M. A. Bentegodi.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was absent in Milan’s 2-0 win at Crotone after the Swede tested positive for COVID-19 but in his absence the Rossoneri still cruised to a routine win over Lo Squalo Calabrese. Frank Kessie and Brahim Diaz were the goal scoring contributors for Milan.

Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano scored a brace for SSC Napoli as the Partenopei hit six past Genoa to go top of the standings. Nigerian international, Victor Osimhen is still looking to net his first goal in Serie A for the Neapolitans but he provided a deft assist for Napoli’s second goal, expertly finished off by Piotr Zielinski on 46 minutes.