Cristiano Ronaldo and Leonardo Bonucci delivered home win for Juventus, with the Portugal international scoring a brace for the Bianconeri after securing just one point in their two previous Serie A matches.
Juventus proved the trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain can co-exist from the start in a 3-1 win over Udinese.
The three stars were relishing the opportunity to play together from the start and broke the deadlock early on. Dybala chested down a long Leonardo Bonucci ball, his attempt to turn was deflected, but turned into an assist for Ronaldo to drill home.
There was almost a second moments later, as Ronaldo’s back-heel flick set up Higuain, his through ball released Dybala, whose shot was deflected on to the side-netting by Sebastien De Maio.
Dybala had the ball in the net again with a delightful lob, but it was all for nothing, as he was booked for controlling the cross with his arm.
The trio combined again, Dybala sparking a dangerous counter by turning Rolando Mandragora inside out, then Ronaldo was cut off, but Higuain forced a low save at the near bottom corner.
It was really one-way traffic in Turin, as Higuain provided an assist with his cheeky no-look through ball for Ronaldo, who burst away from William Troost-Ekong to fire home.
Higuain forced a corner on the stroke of half-time, from which Merih Demiral knocked it down for Bonucci’s header. The Italian didn’t even have to jump, he simply got in front of De Maio and steered it in at the near post.
Dybala tried again after the restart, his delicate lob kissing the top of the crossbar with Juan Musso beaten.
Gigi Buffon did have a save to make on the hour mark, as Kevin Lasagna’s strike was powerful but central, while Bonucci sprinted back to tackle Lasagna on the counter.
Buffon again had to keep out Lasagna and Seko Fofana, as Juve got tired and stretched out towards the closing stages.
Musso denied Ronaldo a hat-trick, fingertipping his scorcher on to the upright, while Federico Bernardeschi’s finish was too weak to trouble the goalkeeper.
Buffon kept the clean sheet intact with another diving save on Ilija Nestorovski, but he too was beaten deep into stoppages when Ter-Avest’s cross found Ignacio Pussetto relatively unmarked to score from close range.
Juventus: Buffon; Danilo, Bonucci (De Ligt 76), Demiral, De Sciglio; Rabiot, Bentancur, Matuidi; Dybala (Bernardeschi 75), Higuain (Douglas Costa 80), Ronaldo
Udinese: Musso; De Maio, Troost-Ekong, Nuytinck; Ter-Avest, Fofana, Mandragora, De Paul (Walace 67), Stryger-Larsen (Nestorovski 87); Okaka (Pussetto 61), Lasagna
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