CRISTIANO RONALDO SCORED for the fourth Serie A home game in succession as Juventus claimed a 2-1 victory over Bologna on Saturday despite some late drama.
The Portugal forward has netted in all of Juve’s home league fixtures this season and opened the scoring with a typically clinical finish.
Bologna levelled with a sumptuous half-volley from full-back Danilo before Miralem Pjanic restored Juve’s advantage after some poor defending by the visitors.
Late in the game, the visitors had a penalty appeal for handball against Matthijs de Ligt turned down and hit the crossbar, while Gianluigi Buffon made a fine late save as Juve moved four points clear at the top of the table.
Ronaldo was presented with a special award by Juventus before kick-off having scored his 700th career goal while on international duty and it did not take him long to add to that tally.
A move which began at the back culminated in cross-field pass in Ronaldo’s direction which Bologna’s Ladislav Krejci only managed to divert into the path of the Juventus man.
Ronaldo created a shooting angle with a stepover on the right edge of the penalty area, and then struck a powerful low effort which beat goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski at his near post.
However, Bologna got themselves back on level terms with a fine strike from full-back Danilo.
The Brazilian defender controlled a high ball on his chest before he struck a sweet half-volley which left Buffon grasping at thin air.
Juventus went through the gears after the interval and were ahead again after some lacklustre defending when Bologna failed to clear their lines.
The ball pinged around the edge of the area before dropping into the path of Pjanic, who steered a low shot into the corner of the net.
Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side appealed for a penalty in the dying minutes when the ball struck De Ligt on the arm, but VAR backed up referee Massimiliano Irrati’s decision not to award the spot-kick.
Buffon then made a brilliant save to deny substitute Federico Santander after his initial head came back off the bar, with the veteran goalkeeper then pushing a spectacular overhead kick from the Paraguayan over the top in the game’s final act.
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