Ronaldo breaks Juve duck

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first competitive goals for Juventus yesterday with a second-half double by the Portuguese star giving the Italian champions a 2-1 Serie A win over Sassuolo to make it four victories from as many games.

The 33-year-old tapped in from barely a yard out after a goalmouth scramble on 50 minutes, and added a second 15 minutes later following a counter-attack orchestrated by Emre Can as the defending seven-time champions moved three points clear of Napoli. “I’m happy.

I worked hard and I knew that the goals would come,” said Ronaldo. “I thank my teammates who really helped me and allowed me to adapt to Italian football.”

Ronaldo showed his frustration, however, kicking the post as he missed two more chances.

“This is football. The important thing is that the team wins. I was a little tense with all the talk after my move from Real Madrid and not scoring, so there were a lot of expectations, but I thank my teammates for supporting me throughout.”

Senegalese striker Khouma Babacar pulled a goal back for Sassuolo in injury-time as the side from Modena fell to their first defeat of the season.

Juventus are the only unbeaten side this term after Napoli inflicted a first loss on Fiorentina on Saturday with a 1-0 win ahead of next week’s Champions League trip to Red Star Belgrade.

Sassuolo are now third with seven points. Juventus winger Douglas Costa was sent off late on after being caught on camera spitting at Sassuolo’s Federico Di Francesco, and could face a lengthy ban. The Herald.