Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the scoresheet this evening, as the Bianconeri made short work of Crotone.
Juve cruise
Andrea Pirlo’s men welcomed the Serie A basement dwellers to Turin a short time ago, for their latest league outing.
Juve headed into proceedings in desperate search of a bounce-back performance, amid a concerning dip in form of late.
Defeat at the hands of Porto in mid-week made it three consecutive outings across all competitions without a win for the Italian champions, whilst of course denting the club’s hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
When all was said and done at the Allianz Stadium tonight, though, the Old Lady got firmly back on track.
Juventus took the lead in the clash 5 minutes before the interval, when Cristiano Ronaldo brought a rare 3-game fruitless streak in front of goal to an end, courtesy of a textbook header:
Cristiano Ronaldo powers a header back across goal for the Juve opener! 💥
An important goal for Juventus on a night when they can’t afford another slip-up ⚫⚪ pic.twitter.com/SGb9r1pkab
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) February 22, 2021
And the Portuguese superstar was back at it again 5 minutes later, nodding home another fine finish to all but kill the clash off as a contest.
There was still time for Weston McKennie to add some gloss to the scoreline 25 minutes from time, too, as the all-action midfielder lashed home from close range with his left foot.
Weston McKennie scores his fifth Juventus goal and hits the Harry Potter celebration again ✨ pic.twitter.com/EW6drGAtMT
— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 22, 2021
This brought a close to the evening’s goalscoring, as Juventus climbed back up to 3rd in the Serie A table.
Ron leading the way
Whilst, as outlined above, their downing of Crotone proved important from a team perspective in getting the Bianconeri’s campaign back on track, as well as lifting spirits throughout Pirlo’s camp, it was also significant from an individual standpoint for the club’s star man.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s brace this evening means that the 36-year-old has now retaken the lead in the Serie A top-goalscorer race.
Romelu Lukaku’s strike in the Milan Derby on Sunday had seen the Belgian break his deadlock with Ronaldo to move onto 17 goals, but the latter’s latest double has seen him move one clear at the summit once more:
Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored more Serie A goals than any other player this season (18).
Leaping highest once again. pic.twitter.com/uYCGAlXGKW
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) February 22, 2021
Not only that, but Ronaldo, remarkably, has now also managed to find the back of the net on 25 or more occasions, for 14 consecutive seasons:
2007-08: 42
2008-09: 26
2009-10: 33
2010-11: 53
2011-12: 60
2012-13: 55
2013-14: 51
2014-15: 61
2015-16: 51
2016-17: 42
2017-18: 44
2018-19: 28
2019-20: 37
2020-21: 25*Cristiano Ronaldo reaches 25 goals for the 14th consecutive season 🤯 pic.twitter.com/4Dp9dIjMML
— Goal (@goal) February 22, 2021
Atlético Madrid vs Chelsea live streaming: Watch Champions League online
Lazio vs Bayern Munich live streaming: Watch Champions League online
Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the scoresheet this evening, as the Bianconeri made short work of Crotone.Juve cruiseAndrea Pirlo’s men welcomed the Serie A basement dwellers to Turin a short time ago, for their latest league outing.Juve headed into proceedings in desperate search of a bounce-back performance, amid a concerning dip in form ofFootball (soccer) greatest goals and highlights | 101 Great Goals – Feed