CRISTIANO RONALDO scored a fantastic brace as Juventus thrashed Parma 4-0 to move closer to AC Milan in the Serie A table.
- RESULT: Parma 0-4 Juventus
- Parma XI: Sepe, Iacoponi, Gagiolo, Cornelius, Kurtic, Sohm, Bruno Alves, Hernani Jr, Osorio, Gervinho, Kucka
- Juventus XI: Buffon, Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, McKennie, Bentancur, Ramsey, Kulusevski, Morata, Ronaldo
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THAT’S ALL FROM PARMA
Juventus picked up a major victory against Parma in their bid to return to the top of the Serie A table.
Juve picked up their third clean sheet in the league in style with a dominant 4-0 win at the Ennio Tardini stadium.
The Bianconeri opened the scoring after only 23 minutes with a beautiful finish by Dejan Kulusevski.
Man of the Match Cristiano Ronaldo then doubled the lead just three minutes later as he picked up a fantastic cross from Alvaro Morata and beat Luigi Sepe with an astonishing header.
Juventus continued from where they left off in the second half as Ronaldo completed a brace thanks to another assist by Morata in the 48th minute.
The visitors had another goal ruled out as the ball went out of play before Matthijs de Ligt’s finisher.
But Morata ultimately made it four with a neat header five minutes before full-time.
Juventus are now third in the league but have the same points as Inter Milan.
Andrea Pirlo’s men will now wait and see how Inter and table-toppers AC Milan fare on Sunday
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RONALDO SECRET
Juventus boss Andrea Pirlo hinted that Cristiano Ronaldo’s impressive performance comes down to missing a penalty last week against Atalanta.
Pirlo insionuated that it was his anger from that miss that pushed him to tonight’s brace and caused him to take out his frustrations at Parma.
The Juve manager said: “Ronaldo was rightly angry, he missed a penalty, but luckily we had a few days to think about it because we had to prepare for this match. He scored. , even better if he does them on action “.
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MOR THAN ENOUGH
Alvaro Morata also enjoyed a brilliant night as he was involved in three out of four goals against Parma.
Morata scored the fourth and set up both of Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals.
And it seems tonight’s performance is absolutely historic for the star striker…
SERIE A TABLE
This is how the Serie A table looks like after Juventus’ 4-0 victory over Parma.
As you can see, Juve have caught up with Inter Milan but are still third.
The Bianconeri have a game at hand and will be waiting to see how the Milan rivals fare on Sunday.
Inter take on Spezia at the San Siro whereas Milan face Sassuolo at the Citta del Tricolore.
STREAK GOES RON
We mentioned before kick-off that Cristiano Ronaldo loves to score against Parma…
Well, the streak has just been extended significantly as tonight’s brace marks a staggering total of six goals in five matches for Ronaldo against Parma.
Smart advice suggests the hosts should be more careful next time.
But how can anyone contain such a player…?
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CLEAN VICTORY
Juventus have the best defence in all of the Serie A as they have only conceded 10 goals in 13 matches.
But tonight’s result marked only their third clean sheet in the league all season.
Pretty hard to believe considering Juve are still undefeated close to Christmas…
Nevertheless, manager Andrea Pirlo will take this 4-0 victory as a sign of progress
MAN OF THE MATCH
Who else but Cristiano Ronaldo…?
Ronaldo was on fire throughout the match and had no trouble dealing with Parma’s defence.
And it’s not just the brace he scored that leads to tonight’s award…
But the fact that the Manchester United legend had the most shots (5), most shots on target (2) and among the highest passing accuracy rate of 90 per cent.
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STATS
Juventus dominated throughout the match but Parma got a decent 37.6 per cent of possession.
This doesn’t come as a surprise as the hosts produced 11 shots, four of which were on target.
Juventus, however, had a whopping 19 shots throughout the game, seven on target,
Parma improved in the second half and that is shown by the fact that they won 53.8 per cent of all aerial duels.
FT: PARMA 0-4 JUVENTUS
Juventus pick up their biggest Serie A victory of the season thanks to a dominant display against Parma.
Juve opened the scoring after just 23 minutes with a beautiful shot by Dejan Kulusevski.
An in-form Cristiano Ronaldo doubled the visitors’ lead just three minutes later with an outstanding header.
Juventus didn’t slow down in the second half as Ronaldo completed a brace in the 48th minute.
The Manchester United legend didn’t get to complete a hat-trick but Alvaro Morata completed the Bianconeri’s triumph with an impressive header five minutes before full-time
PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPP
AND THAT’S FULL-TIME!
PARMA 0-4 JUVENTUS
90 Morata’s brilliant header marked his 10th goal in 15 matches across all competitions.
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PARMA 0-4 JUVENTUS
89 CHANCE
Bruno Alves produces a pass from the right wing and Danilo gets to the ball.
The ex-Manchester City ace almost scores an own goal but the ball goes out for a corner kick
PARMA 0-4 JUVENTUS
88 By the way, this was Ronaldo’s sixth brace of the season across all competitions.
He didn’t score a hat-trick but that’s a brilliant stat…
PARMA 0-4 JUVENTUS
85 Bernardeschi delivers a superb cross from a corner kick and finds Morata.
The ex-Chelsea star produces a marvellous header and beats Sepe with ease.
What a night this has been for Juventus…
GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL
IT’S ANOTHER GOAL FOR JUVENTUS!
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
84 CHANCE
Juventus come close to a fourth goal with Portanova’s powerful shot.
The substitute made a beautiful run and forced a save out of Sepe.
Is there more for Parma?
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
83 SUBSTITUTION
Ronaldo is not getting a hat-trick tonight as he comes off the pitch.
Chiesa takes his place for the last 10 or so minutes of the match.
Pirlo is evidently trying to protect his best player ahead of some very important matches
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
81 CHANCE
Parma miss another chance with Cyprien who picks up a ball from Hernani.
He then fires a shot at Buffon but the ball goes wide
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
80 Only 10 minutes left until full-time.
Ronaldo is after a hat-trick even though Juventus have sealed the victory.
However, Juve want the clean sheet, which is under substantial threat as Parma are becoming dangerous
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
76 SUBSTITUTION
Portanova replaces McKennie and Cuadrado comes in for captain Bonucci.
Juventus are wrapping up the victory
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
75 WHAT A CHANCE!
Parma comes close to a goal again with Inglese, who almost netted his first of the season.
The striker get s a shot right in front of Buffon who saves it and a second shot is blocked by De Ligt
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
74 CHANCE
Gagliolo comes close to another goal with a shot from the left side of the six-yard box.
But the ball goes just wide…
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
72 WHAT A CHANCE
Morata picks up a cross and flicks the ball over Sepe before it gets cleared from Parma’s defence.
Juve are asking for a penalty but referee claims the ex-Chelsea ace was offside
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
71 WHAT A CHANCE!
Parma come close to a goal with Gagliolo, who picks up a beautiful header from a corner kick.
The ball looks like it is going in but Karamoh gets in the way accidentally.
Linesman’s flag then immediately comes up for offisde
PARMA 0-3 JUVENTUS
70 Juventus are enjoying a comfortable possession 20 minutes before full-time.
But Parma are starting to find ways to counter-attack and seem more than capable to deny the visitors of yet another clean sheet
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
