A COVID-19 case had kept Cristiano Ronaldo out of the Crotone and Verona clashes in Serie A and Dynamo Kyiv and FC Barcelona fixtures in the Champions League.
Juventus had struggled in the absence of their star man as they managed to win only one of those four games.
The 35-year old had was returning to the pitch after remaining out of action for almost half a month – but it did not seem so on Sunday.
Ronaldo needed only three minutes to find the back of the net as he came off the bench at minute 56 and was on the scoreline at minute 59.
The Portuguese forward’s goal put his side on the front foot, breaking the 1-1 deadlock after Alvaro Morata and Tommaso Pobega had already scored.
He then netted another one from the penalty spot in the final fifteen minutes, shortly after Adrien Rabiot’s strike, to help Juve grab a resounding 4-1 victory.
Juventus Player Ratings
Goalkeeper & Defenders
Buffon – 6/10 – Didn’t have an awful lot to do, although there were a couple of shaky moments coming off his line and distributing the ball.
Demiral – 7/10 – Impressive for the most part against the lively M’Bala Nzola. A solid afternoon for the promising centre-back.
Bonucci – 6/10 – Some nice passes and some scarier ones in what was an unremarkable afternoon for the veteran. Substituted for Gianluca Frabotta.
Danilo – 6/10 – Quite a lot of action went down the side of the former Manchester City man, whose positional sense and one v one ability was occasionally found lacking.
Cuadrado – 5/10 – Far from perfect in this game – played Spezia onside for Pobega’s equaliser and almost had a hand in conceding a late goal after mistakenly choosing to let the ball run across the box.
Chiesa – 8/10 – It initially looked as if a left wing-back role was slightly unfair on the Italian, but he found a way to influence the game as it opened up, playing a gorgeous pass to Rabiot to seal the win before winning a penalty with his direct running.
Midfielders
McKennie – 9/10 – An excellent game from a man who is beginning to grow into life at Juventus. Drew fouls, got to the byline, flexed a fantastic passing range and found Morata with an unselfish assist. His tricky movement deserved a goal but it wasn’t to be as he was substituted for Aaron Ramsey.
Arthur – 6/10 – Played some nice passes as Juve initially pushed for a goal, but was guilty of disappearing a bit when Spezia got a foothold in the match.
Bentancur – 7/10 – The Uruguayan found Weston McKennie for the goal with an excellent through-ball and was dominant when Juve were on the front foot. Faded as the game went on and was substituted for Rabiot.
Forwards
Dybala – 6/10 – The quintessential Dybala game in many ways – for every ingenious touch or crafty flick there was a turnover or poor decision in transition. Beautifully inefficient.
Morata – 9/10 – Alvaro Morata played like the exact number 9 that La Vecchia Signora need at the moment, bagging a simple goal and an instinctive assist for Ronaldo.
Substitutes
Ronaldo – 9/10 – Instant. Impact. Who the hell writes this man’s scripts? Scored a great goal and an outrageous penalty, which was enough to hand Juventus the win.
Ramsey – 6/10
Rabiot – 7/10 – A lovely goal from the Rabiot to make sure of a win for Juventus, although he was guilty of being slightly sloppy in possession.
Kulusevski – N/A
Frabotta – N/A
