Singapore Asia World All

CNA Insider CNA Lifestyle CNA938

Sections
(https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore) (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia) (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world)

Advertisement

Sport

Football: Ronaldo saves Juventus

blushes as late double downs Udinese

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo in action with Udinese's Walace and Bram Nuytinck. (Photo: REUTERS/Alessandro
Garofalo)

LONDON: Two late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo earned Juventus a 2-1 comeback
win against Udinese on Sunday to give the Turin club a precious three points in the
Serie A top-four race.

Juve climbed into third place on 69 points, level with Atalanta in second and AC
Milan in fourth, but two points ahead of fifth-placed Napoli.

Advertisement

The visiting defence was caught napping when Udinese wing back Nahuel Molina
latched onto a quickly taken freekick to fire home the opener after 10 minutes.

But Rodrigo De Paul stuck out an arm to block a Ronaldo freekick with seven minutes
remaining and the Portuguese converted the resulting penalty to end his run of three
games without a goal.

Ronaldo then headed in an 89th-minute winner from close range to take his tally to
the season to a league-high 27 Serie A goals in 30 appearances.

But the striker's goals papered over the cracks of another poor performance from
 Andrea Pirlo's team.

"If we are satisfied with these 10 minutes, Advertisement

it means that we have not understood

anything," Juve defender Leonardo
Bonucci told Sky Italia.

"We can't change gear and keep it up for

the whole game, that is the hardest thing
to understand.

"Matches are decided by episodes, after

this many games you need to pay attention
to the details. We have dropped points too
many times because of the details."

Juve knew before kickoff that they had the chance to gain ground in the top-four
race after Atalanta and Napoli drew against Sassuolo and Cagliari respectively.

03 May 2021 02:10AM

(Updated: 03 May 2021 02:45AM) But they got off to the worst possible start when De Paul found Molina with a quick
freekick, and he drilled in a finish.
(https://v1.addthis.com/live/redirect/?
url=mailto%3A%3Fbody%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.channelnewsasia.com%252Fnews%252Fsport%252Ffootball-
It was the tenth consecutive league game in which Juve have conceded at least one
ronaldo- goal, their worst record since April 2010.
saves-
juventus- Juve's Weston McKennie was left punching the ground in frustration after heading
blushes- wide from six yards and Paulo Dybala's deflected shot required a smart save from
as-
Simone Scuffet.
late-
double-
But the visitors' chances were few and far between until Ronaldo's decisive
downs-
contribution in the closing stages.
14733826%2523.YI9xuzArz50.mailto%26subject%3DFootball%253A%2520Ronaldo%2520saves%2520Juventus%2520blushes%2520as%2
5e0028e53cd1fd98&rev=v8.28.8-
De Paul's handball gave the Portuguese forward the chance to fire a penalty into the
wp&per=undefined&pco=tbx-
300) bottom corner, and the 36-year-old turned the game on its head when he nodded in
Bookmark an Adrien Rabiot cross at the back post.

Source:
Reuters

Tagged Topics
Juventus (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/topic/juventus)

Udinese (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/topic/udinese)

sports (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/topic/sports)

football (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/topic/football)

Cristiano Ronaldo (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/topic/cristiano-ronaldo)

(https://v1.addthis.com/live/redirect/?
url=mailto%3A%3Fbody%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.channelnewsasia.com%252Fnews%252F
ronaldo-
saves-
juventus-
blushes-
as-
late-
double-
downs-
14733826%2523.YI9xuyAygw8.mailto%26subject%3DFootball%253A%2520Ronaldo%2520saves%25
5e0028e53cd1fd98&rev=v8.28.8-
wp&per=undefined&pco=tbx-
300)
Advertisement
 Save time with a quick summary of the headlines.
Get CNA’s Evening Brief newsletter

Stay on top of major news and announcements made through the workday.

Copyright© Mediacorp 2021. Mediacorp Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bookmark