Ronaldo double rescues a spot for Juventus at Roma
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to salvage a spot for 10-man Juventus in a 2-2 draw at Roma as Napoli hammered Genoa 6-0 in Serie A on Sunday.
Champions Juventus were trailing 2-1 and a man down after one hour at the Stadio Olimpico after a Jordan Veretout brace for the hosts and Adrien Rabiot's sending off.
But a towering Ronaldo header grabbed the equaliser in the 69th minute in order to avoid handing new Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo an initial defeat.
"Going behind complicated things but we got an essential point," said Ronaldo.
"We're in the beginning of the season, with a new coach. But the team will work well, I'm confident for future years.
"Pirlo? It's still early days, but we're working with a smile, that's important."
Edin Dzeko was back in the Roma front line after his proceed to Juventus fell through, the Bosnian having missed last week's visit to Verona which ended in a forfeit defeat for the administrative centre side for fielding an unregistered player.
Instead new Juventus signing Alvaro Morata got his begin after his move from Atletico Madrid earlier this week.
However the champions were pushed hard by the hosts with Veretout opening from the spot in the 31st minute after a Rabiot handball.
The French midfielder added another shortly prior to the break soon after Ronaldo had equalised for the very first time.
Another handball, this time Lorenzo Pellegrini's, resulted in Juventus being awarded a penalty allowing Ronaldo to slot in.
The Portuguese got his second with 20 minutes to go when his head met a Danilo cross seven minutes after Rabiot was sent off for another yellow card.
"Ronaldo gives us a whole lot, not merely for the goals, in the end when we were down a man he ran a whole lot," said Pirlo.
"We've taken a step back but we are a team under construction.
"Unfortunately, we didn't have time to check game solutions in the pre-season, so we must do these tests during these matches.
"Nevertheless, this is a point gained."
Roma coach Paulo Fonseca added: "We'd a good match, but I'm not satisfied with the effect."
- 'A bit misleading' -
Hirving Lozano scored doubly Napoli swept past coronavirus-hit Genoa while AC Milan continued their winning run without Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a 2-0 victory against promoted Crotone.
"The result is a lttle bit misleading, if we hadn't scored the next goal quickly in the next half, I'd probably have changed the set-up," said coach Gennaro Gattuso.
"In the first half, we suffered a bit, despite having a whole lot of opportunities, we almost conceded a goal. We lacked just a little balance, we still need to improve."
Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen got his begin for Napoli, having come off the bench to lift the southerners past Parma within their opener last week.
Club-record signing Osimhen again impressed against a Genoa side playing without first-choice goalkeeper Mattia Perin, who tested positive for coronavirus.
Mexican forward Lozano fired Napoli ahead in the 10th minute in the Stadio San Paolo.
After the break it had been one-way traffic with Piotr Zielinski latching onto a clever Osimhen back-heel flick for the next just seconds following the restart.
Zielinski then helped set up Dries Mertens for the 3rd just before the hour mark before Lozano again struck carrying out a mix-up in the Genoa defence.
Substitute Matteo Politano curled in the sixth with 20 minutes to visit give Napoli a maximum six points after their first two matches.
The only bad news for Gattuso was Lorenzo Insigne limping off with a left thigh injury before their clash at champions Juventus in a few days.
Milan meanwhile, without star Ibrahimovic who tested positive for COVID-19, also have injury woes after Croatian striker Ante Rebic fell badly on his left arm.
Franck Kessie scored their first goal from the penalty spot just before the break after a foul on Rebic, with Spaniard Brahim Diaz, on loan from Real Madrid, adding another four minutes later.
"The good thing is there is no fracture, this decreases the recovery time," said coach Stefano Pioli of Rebic.
