Juventus welcomed Series A rivals Cagliari on Sunday afternoon to their home ground of Sardegna Arena. This season has been in Juventus’s favor, being ranked 3rd and qualifying for the UEFA group stages. For Cagliari, it has been more of a struggle, and they are currently at the bottom, in 17th. When this match came around, it was no different, and Juventus cruised by Cagliari with ease, finishing in a 3-1 final.
Most people are aware of Juventus’s top player: Cristiano Ronaldo. The forward has been an essential part of the team’s successes. Here, he once again proved to be just that. Ronaldo scored 3 goals in less than 45 minutes to put his team on top the whole game. Lately, the superstar has been getting a lot of criticism on social media that he is not an asset to the team. Today, he clearly proved them all wrong.
It didn’t take too long for Juventus to get the ball rolling and up on the scoreboard. At the 10-minute mark, Juventus had earned themselves a corner kick opportunity. Juan Cuadrado crossed the ball into the center of the box, where Ronaldo got ahead to it. From there, the ball was buried in the back of the net, a solid early lead for the home team.
At the 25-minute mark, Juventus had another chance to increase their lead. Alessio Cragno (Cagliari) got a little too aggressive with Ronaldo and took him down in the penalty area. Ronaldo decided to take advantage of this and step up to try his luck. Striking the ball with his right foot, it barely made it by the goalie but was enough to get through his hands. Now, the score was 2-0, and Juventus was looking and feeling pretty good about themselves.
However, the first half was not over yet, and neither was Ronaldo. Just 7 minutes later, he obtained his 3rd goal of the game. Federico Chiesa passed the ball from one side of the box to the other, leaving it for Ronaldo. Having the ball at his dominant foot, Ronaldo quickly made a move to trip up his defender before releasing it. This left-footed attempt made its way by the keeper into the bottom left corner, giving Ronaldo a well-deserved hattrick.
Going into halftime, Juventus was up 3-0, and Cagliari had yet to put any goals on the board. That, however, changed in the second half.
Cagliari knew coming back to the field that they needed to keep a better eye on Ronaldo and not let him shoot. Their defense became more well-organized, and they started pressing the field as a whole. In turn, these changes worked in their favor, and they were able to score from it.
Giovanni Simeone went for a right-footed shot that the goalkeeper was unable to stop. It made its way to the bottom right corner, and Cagliari finally got themselves on the scoreboard. Teammate Gabriele Zappa assisted Simeone.
Unfortunately, Cagliari could not find the back of the goal again and would leave the field in a 3-1 loss. Yet, their efforts greatly improved in the second half as they held Juventus to a standstill. For a team that has not been having a great season, they kept up pretty well. Both teams had 50% possession during the match, as well as 3 saves per group.
At the very least, Cagliari should be proud for keeping the game under control and performing a good match-up against one of the top teams in the league.
Up Next
Juventus travels to face Benevento on Sunday, March 21st. Kickoff will begin at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Cagliari goes back to their home stadium to face Spezia on Saturday, March 20th. This game is set to start at 1:00 ET.
