Cristiano Ronaldo fired Juventus seven points clear in Serie A with a match-winning brace in a hard-earned 2-1 victory at Empoli on Saturday.
2018/2019 Serie A
1-2
Match Events
10' CHANCE! Pjanic's shot wide out
Juve work the ball around the final third before Pjanic drops his shoulder on the edge of the box to curl a strike towards goal. The midfielder makes decent contact, although his effort does not have the bend on it to find the bottom corner.
28'GOAL! Empoli 1-0 Juventus (Caputo)
EMPOLI TAKE THE LEAD!! CAPUTO SCORES WITH A FINE STRIKE!!! 1-0! The home side put themselves in front with a good move on the counter finished in style by Caputo. Acquah led his team out from the back with a driving run down the right flank. His low cross into the middle was not cleared properly by the Juve backline. Caputo pounced on the loose ball in the right inside channel, curling his effort beyond the reach of Szczesny into the top corner.
39' CHANCE! Ronaldo's header saved
Alex Sandro raids down the left flank and sends a cross into the box for Ronaldo to leap and head at goal. The Portuguese does not make solid contact with his effort, allowing Provedel to make a comfortable save.
44' Bonucci's handball overlooked by ref
The referee wanted a second look at Bonucci's block for the apparent use of his hand, but it deemed it accidental as his arm was locked close to his body.
48' OFF THE BAR! Pjanic almost scores
Juve win a corner and the home side fail to clear the loose ball from the box. Bentancur collects at the back post and hammers an effort towards the near post, only to be denied by a fine save from Provedel. The visitors keep the attack alive and Pjanic hits a left-footed effort across the face of goal, only to see his strike hit the bar and bounce to safety. A huge slice of luck for Empoli.
54'Penalty Goal! Empoli 1-1 Juventus (Ronaldo)
RONALDO FINDS THE NET! 1-1!! The Portuguese holds his composure from 12 yards, drilling his right-footed strike into the bottom corner as Provedel guessed incorrectly.
70'GOAL! Empoli 1-2 Juventus (Ronaldo)
RONALDO SCORES A STUNNER!!! 2-1 JUVENTUS!!! The Portuguese notches his second of the game to put his team ahead. He collected Matuidi's offload outside the box on the right flank before pulling the trigger on his strike. His effort soared beyond the reach of Provedel and into the top corner. A superb goal from Ronaldo.
Match Reports
The Portugal superstar erased a first-half deficit from the spot shortly after the interval before a thunderous swerving drive 20 minutes from time ensured there was no repeat of last weekend's frustrating home draw with Genoa.
Juve lost Giorgio Chiellini to injury in the warm-up and had looked set to leave the door open for Napoli to move back within a win of joint top spot when Francesco Caputo put the struggling hosts ahead in a tense first half.
Line-ups
Empoli XI: Silvestre, Antonelli, F. Caputo, Maietta, Acquah, M. Zajc, G. Di Lorenzo, I. Provedel, R. Krunić, I. Bennacer, H. Traorè
Subs: Manuel Pasqual, Matteo Brighi, P. Terracciano, Joel Untersee, Salih Ucan, Capezzi, Andrea Fulignati, Michal Marcjanik, S. Mráz, Jacob Rasmussen, A. Jakupovic, A. La Gumina
Juventus XI: Cristiano Ronaldo, B. Matuidi, Bonucci, W. Szczęsny, Pjanic, A.Sandro, De Sciglio, Rugani, P. Dybala, Bernardeschi, R. Bentancur
Subs: Barzagli, M. Benatia, Chiellini, Juan Cuadrado, Douglas Costa, Carlo Pinsoglio, M. Perin, Cancelo, Spinazzola, M.Kean