Result: Juventus 3-1 Sassuolo
Date: 10 January 2021
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Cristiano Ronaldo extended his lead at the top of the Serie A scoring charts after netting in Juventus' 3-1 victory over Sassuolo on Sunday night.
Bianconeri made three changes, one enforced, as Matthijs de Ligt tested positive for Covid-19 and was replaced by Merih Demiral while Weston McKennie and Arthur earned starts.
The hosts had a bright start as Gianluca Frabotta came close to giving opening the scoring in the tenth minute after receiving a clever back-heel from McKennie that sent him clear on the left side of the box but his looping shot was tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Andrea Consigli.
After a surprisingly quiet spell in the half, Sassuolo were reduced to ten men on the brink of half-time after Pedro Obiang was initially given a yellow card for a lunging tackle on Federico Chiesa, but was red-carded after the referee reviewed the incident on the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) monitor.
The visitors were disorganised in first-half stoppage time, with Juventus putting them under pressure as Ronaldo and Dejan Kulusevski missed big chances just before the break.
However, Danilo finally broke the deadlock for them six minutes inside the second stanza with a smashing first-time strike from outside the box that arrowed into the bottom corner.
Sassuolo were were back on level terms when Gregoire Defrel snatched the equaliser on the hour-mark with a low strike across shot-stopper Wojciech Szczesny after a through ball by Hamed Traore, 1-1.
Ronaldo had a great chance to restore the lead for Juventus in the last quarter of an hour after he latched onto a through ball unmarked in the centre of the box but his first-time shot was smothered by Consigli.
However, Aaron Ramsey restored Bianconeri's lead in the last eight minutes with a tap-in at the back post after a grass-cutting cross by Frabotta on the left channel
Ronaldo sealed the three points for the hosts with the third goal in stoppage tie after racing clear on a counter-attack to fired a low strike past Consigli as Juventus moved up to fourth on the table, seven points behind leaders AC Milan with a game in hand.
