Cristiano Ronaldo was recalled to the Juventus starting line-up this weekend after being rested for Tuesday’s victory over Brescia, and it was a goalscoring return to action for the Portugal captain.
Ronaldo’s back-post header secured a 2-0 victory over SPAL in Serie A on Saturday afternoon, making it three wins for the defending champions who assumed leadership of Serie A ahead of Inter’s trip to Sampdoria later in the day.
Miralem Pjanic gave Juve the lead just before half time with a beautifully taken goal from outside the penalty area. Ronaldo made the game safe in the 78th minute with a textbook header, meeting Paulo Dybala’s excellent cross at the far post with a connection too powerful for SPAL goalkeeper Etrit Berisha to keep out.
After the match, Juve coach Maurizio Sarri praised the options available to him in attack, telling reporters: “Dybala gives us quality and more solutions going forward. Cristiano Ronaldo was lively today and created four or five scoring opportunities, while Gonzalo Higuain has been doing well this season. It’s good to have three forwards where any combination you choose, you can’t go wrong.”
By Sean Gillen
