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Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice from the penalty spot to win his battle with rival Lionel Messi and information Juventus to a 3-Zero win over Barcelona on Tuesday, incomes the Italians prime spot in Champions League Group G. The former Real Madrid striker and his Argentina counterpart traded Ballon d’Or wins for a decade between 2008-2017 and had been figureheads for the duelling Spanish giants, however there was just one winner on the Camp Nou as they met for the primary time since Ronaldo’s departure for Juve in 2018.
Andrea Pirlo’s Juventus misplaced 2-Zero at residence towards Barcelona in October with out Ronaldo, sidelined with Covid-19, however had been enormously improved and earned the primary Champions League away win towards Barcelona since Bayern Munich triumphed in 2013.
Both sides, tied on 15 factors, had been assured of qualification earlier than kick-off, however Juve’s three-goal victory handed them a superior head-to-head document.
“When you have this desire to sacrifice yourself and an infallible sniper, like Ronaldo, you are sure you can win these matches,” Bonucci instructed Sky Sport Italia.
“As we showed in the derby (win over Torino), if we play with this desire, we bring home the results we want. The next step is to do this in all our games.”
Ronald Koeman, reeling from Barcelona’s 2-1 defeat by promoted minnows Cadiz on Saturday in La Liga, reacted by making 4 modifications however the hosts began badly.
It solely took 13 minutes for Ronaldo to interrupt the impasse, slotting residence from the penalty spot after the referee deemed Ronald Araujo’s problem on him a foul.
Juventus didn’t relent and their strain led to a second aim, US midfielder Weston McKennie volleying residence Juan Cuadrado’s sweetly clipped cross within the 20th minute.
The Catalans and their captain Messi lastly woke from their slumber, because the attacker had one effort blocked by Matthijs de Ligt and one other saved by veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, whereas Pjanic lashed over the bar.
Ronaldo notched his second from the penalty spot within the 52nd minute after Clement Lenglet dealt with clumsily within the space, because the hosts imploded.
Antoine Griezmann, who was invisible within the first half, grazed the crossbar with a looping header from a Messi free kick, and Buffon beat out one other effort, with De Ligt’s strain sufficient to cease Martin Braithwaite changing the rebound.
Leonardo Bonucci had a fourth aim dominated out for offside after he tapped in Ronaldo’s effort from shut vary, with Messi attempting in useless on the different finish to reply Ronaldo, however he discovered the 42-year-old Buffon in his means time and time once more.
Griezmann was essential of his personal facet after they fell to their first residence Champions League group stage defeat since 2009.
“We were not good enough, they over-ran us in the first half, we lacked everything,” he instructed Movistar.
“A lack of attitude, desire, wanting to run, defending, attacking, everything was bad.”
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen was additionally sad.
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“There are two things, one thing is individual mistakes, and the other is how the team defends, these are different things,” he stated.
“Right now teams can score against us in any given moment. This is very tough, we need to come out of this, and work very hard.”
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