Cristiano Ronaldo has marked his 600th league appearance with his 20th Serie A goal of the season as Juventus beat Spezia 3-0 on Tuesday.
The Portuguese, who also hit the post with an effort in the first half, becomes the first player to score at least 20 goals in each of the last 12 seasons in Europe’s top five leagues.
Ronaldo guided in his side’s third goal in the 89th minute after Alvaro Morata and Federico Chiesa struck earlier in the second half to put Andrea Pirlo’s side (Spezia) in a commanding position.
The win leaves Juve third with 49 points from 24 games behind AC Milan on 52 and leaders Inter Milan with 56, both of whom are in action this week against Udinese and Parma respectively
Juventus against Spezia was a must win if they wanted to remain alive in Serie A this season. Cristiano Ronaldo could have rested today if results were more positive for his side, but the collective hasn’t responded as expected.
The big man had to play the full 90 minutes in order to secure his side the victory and he was key to his side’s result today. Although he scored in the final moments of the match, Cristiano still led his teammates with his movements without the ball.
After a leveled first half with no goals, Juventus manager, Andrea Pirlo had to look to his bench, he decided to give Alvaro Morata a chance to play during the second half.
The Spaniard didn’t disappoint as he scored almost immediately. He combined with Bernardeschi and they had to wait for VAR to allow their goal on the scoreboard. After this moment, everything became easier for the Bianconeri.
Juventus became increasingly more dangerous as time kept going by. Chiesa got the second goal with 20 minutes still left on the clock. This moment gave the locals more room to maneuver and attempt to get Ronaldo his 20th goal of the season.
Near the end of the match, Rodrigo Bentancur gave Cristiano a gift he transformed into Juventus’ third goal of the evening.
