Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo kept their hopes of playing in the UEFA Champions League alive by securing a crucial 3-1 victory over Serie A side Sassuolo.
It was a smash-and-grab from Andrea Pirlo's men as Sassuolo dominated the whole game but failed to finish clinically with the numerous opportunities they created.
Dominico Berardi looked bright for Sassuolo throughout the match, but he was also guilty of missing plenty of gilt-edged chances, including a penalty in the first half which was saved by veteran Juventus shot-stopper Gianluigi Buffon.
Juventus took the lead out of nowhere through Adrien Rabiot in the 28th minute before Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up with a clinical finish to make it 2-0 in the 45th minute.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th goal for the club in just his 3rd season at Juventus and is also the favorite to win the Serie A golden boot this season.
Sassuolo did threaten a comeback when they scored through Giacomo Raspadori in the 59th minute. But Paulo Dybala also scored his 100th career goal for Juventus with a lovely finish to give the Old Lady a 3-1 lead.
Juventus held on until the end and this win keeps them in 5th place, just one point behind 4th placed side Napoli.
Speaking after the game to reporters, Juventus manager Andrea Pirlo said:
“We can have a breather now and then dive headfirst into the next two games.
“It wasn’t easy to get back on track after that defeat and especially against Sassuolo. We prepared it so we’d sit back, wait for Sassuolo with some very tight lines to stop them finding those spaces, then the plan was to win it back and go rapidly on the counter. Sassuolo push so many men forward, they leave gaps at the back.
“I used two very quick wing-backs like Federico Chiesa and Dejan Kulusevski to attack the space and we did it well. Champions in football are the ones who make the difference, and we have many of them, so tonight they made a big impact. It wasn’t easy for us to lift our heads up, but we did, we are here, we are alive and kicking and will fight to the end.”
Juventus take on Inter Milan next in a high voltage clash on Saturday and they will be hoping that Cristiano Ronaldo is at his best for the crucial encounter. Cristiano Ronaldo's future has been subject to intense speculation over the last few weeks and it will be interesting to see where he will be playing next season.
Without further ado, let us look at the: