Serie A
Result: Udinese 1-2 Juventus
Date: 02 May 2021
Venue: Dacia Arena
Juventus climbed to third spot in Serie A after a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo secured a come-from-behind victory over Udinese on Sunday evening.
Bianconeri made three changes from the draw at Fiorentina, as Danilo, Weston McKennie and Federico Bernardeschi were all recalled while Giorgio Chiellini, Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey dropped to the bench.
Udinese got off to a bright start after Nahuel Molina fired them ahead in the tenth minute with a powerful strike into the roof of the net after a quick short free-kick by Rodrigo De Paul caught Juventus unaware.
Andrea Pirlo's charges were struggling to get into any sort of attacking rhythm after that but McKennie came very close to levelling matters just before the half-hour mark with a diving header that missed the far post by a whisker.
The Old Lady were camped inside Udinese's half, applying the pressure but they were repelled by the hosts' defence, with goalkeeper Simone Scuffet only making routine saves as Luca Gotti's troops went to the break leading by an odd goal.
Udinese settled the quickest again in the second stanza, as Tolgay Arslan came close to doubling their lead seven minutes from the break with a low drive that missed the near post after great hold-up play by Stefano Okaka.
Bianconeri could not find openings in the early exchanges of the second stanza and Pirlo needed inspiration from the bench on the hour-mark, as he brought on Dejan Kulusevski in place of Federico Bernardeschi and six minutes later he introduced Alvaro Morata in place of Paulo Dybala.
Juventus were handed a lifeline in the last seven minutes after Ronaldo's free-kick hit De Paul's arm on the wall inside the box, giving the referee no choice but to award the spot-kick whi the Portuguese dispatched to level matters.
Ronaldo snatched the winner for Pirlo's men in the last minute with a neat header at the back post after a dipping cross by Rabiot, who had just come on as Bianconeri went up to third on the log.
See where Ronaldo ranks among the highest-paid players in Serie A:
