UEFA Champions League
Result: Juventus 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen
Date: 01 October 2019
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Cristiano Ronaldo opened his account for the UEFA Champions League season as Juventus thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 on Tuesday evening.
Despite impressing over the weekend, Aaron Ramsey dropped to the bench as Maurizio Sarri went for Federico Bernadeschi as Gonzalo Higuain and Ronaldo led the attack. The hosts dominated the opening exchanges but had to wait until the 17th minute for the break through as Jonathan Tah's poor headed clearance fell to Higuain, who placed the ball into the far corner. Leverkusen have not enjoyed a good record with Italian opposition in the Europe's premier competition, having only registered two wins in 10 Champions League encounters, but that looked like continuing as they struggled to carve out chances. Other than the early Higuain goal, the home side did not have much to write home about in the opening 45 minutes, other than a couple efforts from distance. Ronaldo came to life shortly after the break as he went close to breaking the deadlock after 57 minutes when his stinging effort from distance was turned away by Hradecky. The Portuguese star did have a hand in Juventus' second goal as he combined with Higuain to set up Bernardeschi, who drilled the ball into the back of the net. As time winded down, Ronaldo eventually got his name on the score-sheet in the 88th minute as Paulo Dybala turned provider to pick out his Portuguese teammate, who slotted home from close range.
