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Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Juventus strolled to a 3-0 residence win over backside facet Crotone in Serie A on Monday, with the victory taking the champions as much as third within the standings.
Juve had been slightly sluggish to get going, however their ever-reliable talisman arrived to satisfy an Alex Sandro cross within the thirty eighth minute to offer Andrea Pirlo’s facet the lead.
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Ronaldo appeared hungry for extra and one other bullet header in first-half stoppage time doubled the lead, taking the Portugal ahead again to the highest of the league’s scoring charts on 18 objectives, one forward of Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku.
The 36-year-old had probabilities to finish a hat trick but it surely was Weston McKennie who added the third, hammering residence his fourth Serie A aim of the season within the 66th minute from shut vary.
A primary win in 4 matches in all competitions ensured Juve climbed from sixth to 3rd within the desk and onto 45 factors, eight behind leaders Inter with a sport in hand.
“The will we’ve got to return to the highest makes me really feel comfy,” Pirlo stated. “The angle of the gamers additionally pleases me.
“When we’ve got extra gamers free from damage I’ll have extra selection and this additionally makes me really feel comfy. We all know that Inter are an amazing workforce and we all know we’ve got to combat [to win the title].”
Crotone stay rooted to the foot of the desk with 12 factors from 23 video games, eight factors from the protection zone.
Aaron Ramsey thought he had given Juve the lead with a looping header solely to see the ball hit the bar earlier than Ronaldo confirmed him how it’s achieved with two expertly-taken headers.
Ronaldo’s objectives imply Crotone are the 78th totally different workforce he has scored towards in Europe’s high 5 leagues — solely Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored towards extra sides since 2000.
A evident miss on the finish of the half confirmed Ronaldo is just human, earlier than two fantastic saves by Alex Cordaz after the break denied the Portuguese one other hat-trick.
McKennie’s close-range end put the sport past doubt, however league-leading scorer Ronaldo tried all the pieces he might till the final minute so as to add extra to his tally.
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