Cristiano Ronaldo is finally off the mark in the famed Bianconeri black and white with a brace in Juventus’ 2-1 win over Sassuolo.
After three scoreless Serie A games, the Portguese finally got off the mark for his new club with a crucial brace that killed off Sassuolo’s brave resistance.
Here are three talking points from the game.
WILL THE REAL RONALDO PLEASE STAND UP
Guess who’s back?
It couldn’t go on forever, could it? The brief Bianconeri struggles are over for Ronaldo. Although judging by how he wheeled away in sheer delight, you’d think he had just scored the greatest goal of his life.
It will probably go down among the easiest of his illustrious career and oh how he needed it to be. He then went on to add a brilliant second to kill off Sassuolo in the 65th minute – rifling a crisp left-footed strike beyond Andrea Consigli.
Now he’s off the mark, Italy will be on high alert. The worrying thing for the rest of Serie A though – and perhaps the European elite – is just how normal service has been for Juve amid their summer arrival’s early struggles.
Even before Sunday’s date with Sassuolo, the Turin titans topped the early table. Ominously, after four games, they are the only side in Italy who have a 100 per cent record.
They were given their first stern tests in the last two years – the four-point gap to Napoli last term and Roma a year earlier – the narrowest gap since beating Milan by the same margin in 2011/12.
Just when the chasing pack might just feel they are in with a sniff, however, Juve sign one of the modern game’s greats. And with Ronaldo finally firing, the chances of an eighth-straight Scudetto would appear inevitable.
Additionally, the Champions League starts this week. It’s essentially what Ronaldo was bought for.
He became the first player to score in 10 consecutive Champions League matches last season and finished with 15 goals in total despite not scoring in either leg of the semi-finals or the final. He’s just warming up.
SASSUOLO’S SUPERB PROGRESS
It’s been a stellar few years for Sassuolo.
A fraction of the season has passed, so let’s not get too excited about the Neroverdi’s (Black and Greens) occupation of third place in the Serie A table – but their vivacious start to the 2018/19 season serves as a microcosm to the gigantic progress made since promotion to the top-flight five years ago.
They scraped survival in 2013/14, finishing 17th, two points above relegated Catania.
Their rise since, however, has been astonishing. A year on they ascended to the heady heights of 12th. Six more places were climbed 12 months further down the line, sixth-place amazingly attained in 2015/16.
They finished ahead of AC Milan and Lazio and even though they missed out on the Europa League by three points, they qualified after Juve beat Milan in the Coppa Italia final.
They made the Europa League group stages after beating Red Star Belgrade 4-1 on aggregate in the play-off round – their first ever season of continental football.
They dropped to 10th in 2016/17 and 11th last term domestically but have well and truly established themselves among the elite, a hugely impressive feat.
Not bad for a side who were in Serie C2, the lowest level of professional football in Italy and four echelons below Serie A (the English equivalent of League 2), as recently as 1998.
COSTA HAS DOUG HIMSELF A HOLE
Don’t you just love it when a fairly mundane game suddenly explodes into life at the very death, and gives us something to talk about?
At first glance you’d think Douglas Costa could be in massive trouble for his dismissal in the dying embers of this game. In truth the Brazilian could have received three separate red cards before he was eventually and belatedly sent off following the involvement of VAR.
His initial, cynical foul on Sassuolo substitute Federico Di Francesco in the build-up to the Black and Greens stoppage time goal warranted a yellow.
Referee Daniele Chiffi deserves credit for not blowing and allowing Christian Dell’Orco to cross, which was met by the head of Khouma Babacar to give the visitors hope. What neither Costa nor Chiffi deserve credit for was what followed.
Costa – a 61st minute substitute for Mario Mandzukic – launched an elbow into the face of Di Francesco after he had the temerity to question his rambunctious tackle. Red card.
As Di Francesco continued to question Costa, the former Bayern Munich man then threw a vicious headbutt the 24-year-old attacker’s way. Red card.
Replays then showed the two appearing to calm the situation down – only for Costa to then apparently spit in Di Francesco’s mouth. Red card.
Chiffi did eventually produce red when prompted, but a lengthy ban could be headed Costa’s way. Now, we have no way of knowing what caused him to react the way he did.
Did Di Francesco racially abuse him? If so, that’s deplorable. But a player committing three separate red card-worthy offences in the space of five minutes cannot be glossed over.
