The Portuguese ace scored a brace to help Juventus get three points.
Juventus have produced a comfortable 4-1 win against Udinese at Allianz Stadium, with Cristiano Ronaldo chipping in with a brace.
The hosts had a shocking start to the game after Rodrigo De Paul thought he had opened the account for Udinese, only for VAR to overturn the decision later.
Ronaldo put Juve ahead around the half-hour mark after scoring a brilliant goal before Federico Chiesa doubled it up at the start of the second half, latching on to the Portuguese striker’s through ball.
The former Real Madrid ace proved to be a menace for the visitors when he completed his brace, assisted by Rodrigo Bentancur, who pounced on Udinese’s loose ball.
Ronaldo’s brace has taken his tally to 14 in Serie A this season, which is also the current highest in the league.
Udinese pulled one back in the injury time, thus leaving goalkeeper Szczesny with no clean sheet but Juve soon responded with their fourth goal of the game from Paulo Dybala’s effort.
The victory could be a morale-boosting one for the Bianconeri following their slump against Fiorentina in the previous fixture.
Juve are still far off from climbing to the top spot as they are currently fifth in the table with 27 points, 10 points behind the leaders Milan.
Andrea Pirlo would be relieved to see his side come back strongly after the humiliating defeat against La Viola.
Bentancur, who set up Ronaldo’s second goal, offered his thoughts on the win.
“We did better after the break, deserved the victory, but again the mentality dropped at the end to concede that goal.
“I think we need to keep that concentration throughout the 90 minutes. We allowed Udinese too many chances and that should not happen.
“I don’t mind if I score goals or not, I provided an assist tonight and that’s as good as a goal, because I am helping the team.
“This was a victory we wanted and fought hard for, now we have a couple of days to rest and prepare for Milan.”
