Sports

Ronaldo fails to score in Juventus debut

Published

6 years ago

August 18, 2018

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo missed chances to score on his Serie A debut as defending champions Juventus snatched a late 3 -2 win against Chievo in a thrilling opening match of the 2018 – 2019 league season on Saturday .Ronaldo , 33 , joined from Real Madrid last month in a deal worth 100 million euros ( $ 114 . 5 million ) .

Substitute Federico Bernardeschi scored the winner two minutes into injury time with Germany international Sami Khedira opening the scoring after just three minutes at the Bentegodi Stadium .

Chievo’ s Mattia Bani turned into his own net after 75 minutes following pressure from Leonardo Bonucci to pull the champions level after the home side had taken a shock 2 – 1 lead .

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Polish striker Mariusz Stepinski had headed in and an Emanuele Giaccherini penalty gave the Flying Donkeys hope of a rare win over the Turin giants.

Mario Mandzukic had a goal disallowed late in the game following an incident which floored Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino who required medical assistance .

But Bernardeschi finished off an Alex Sandro assist to seal the first three points for the champions as they target an eighth straight league title .

The game had been preceded by a minute ’ s silence for the victims of the Genoa bridge disaster with players taking to the pitch wearing black armbands .

The opening round of matches involving both Genoa teams were postponed because of the bridge collapse in the port city .

Sampdoria had been due to host Fiorentina and Genoa to travel to AC Milan .

Meanwhile , another big name arrival in Serie A , Carlo Ancelotti makes his debut as Napoli coach as last year ’ s runners – up take on Lazio in Rome later Saturday .

( AFP )