Cristiano Ronaldo and his head were all Juventus needed to return to winning ways after going three games without a win in all competitions. The 5 time Ballon d’Or winner scored two goals using his head against lowly rated Crotone in Juventus’ 3-0 win on Monday, February 22, 2021.
Juventus’ win over Crotone has taken the Serie A giants into the third spot on the league table with 45 points in 22 league games, 8 points below first placed Inter Milan, and four points below second-placed AC Milan. The advantage Juventus have over the top two clubs is that they still have a game in hand.
As for Cristiano Ronaldo, the 35-year-old Portuguese football icon has been doing what he is famous for, scoring goals for Juventus. On Monday, the prolific forward scored two superb headers to give the Serie A giants a good start.
His first goal in the match came in the 38th minute when he headed Alex Sandro’s cross. Ronaldo slotted in the second goal towards the end of the first half by heading home a pass Aaron Ramsey played into Crotone’s penalty box.
In the second half, the Portuguese football star could not do much until his teammate Weston McKennie made it three for Juventus in the 66th minute.
The two goals Cristiano Ronaldo scored against Crotone have made him overtake Romelu Lukaku on the Serie A scorers’ chart. So far this season, the Portuguese star has scored 18 goals in 19 league games. While Lukaku is currently the second-highest goalscorer in the league with 17 goals in 22 league appearances.
Since Cristiano Ronaldo joined Juventus in 2018, he has scored a total of 70 Serie A goals, which makes him one of the highest-scoring footballers across Europe.
Juventus are chasing the Serie A title behind Inter-Milan for the first time since the 2010-2011 season where Inter Milan finished the season on the second spot behind AC Milan, and Juventus finished in the 7th spot.
Vittoria importante! Felice di aver dato il mio contributo! Avanti così ragazzi! 🚀 🏳️🏴💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/FC9PCpK7bh
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) February 22, 2021
At the end of the league match between Juventus and Crotone on Monday, February 22, the manager of Juventus, Andrea Pirlo, said his team would not give up on the title race this season.
‘All those behind Inter are antagonists, we are one of them and we will fight until the end,’ Pirlo told Sky Sport Italia.
About the 3-0 win over Crotone, Pirlo said Juventus “started a bit nervous, maybe the last defeats had made us nervous”.
“Then the goals helped us and gave us peace of mind”, the coach added. “The rest we managed well. The start was not the best, the important thing was to bring home the three points.”
While the club’s midfielder Aaron Ramsey told JTV that ‘It was a really important match for us. We needed the three points. It was important to play an attacking match, creating many chances and even finish without conceding.
‘It was important to get back to winning. In the Champions League, we were very unhappy with the result and therefore we are happy to have achieved this win. It was also important given the other results from the weekend.’
