Juventus vs Cagliari. Italian Serie A.
Juventus StadiumAttendance40,598.
Ronaldo scores first Serie A treble as Juventus thrash Cagliari; Ibrahimovic makes second AC Milan debut in stalemate
Monday 6 January 2020 22:53, UK
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first Serie A hat-trick to lead champions Juventus to a 4-0 win at home to Cagliari on Monday, taking his tally to eight goals in his last five league games.
The Portuguese pounced on a mistake in the Cagliari defence to break the deadlock four minutes after half-time before adding the second from a penalty as he scored for the fifth league game in the row.
After setting up Gonzalo Higuain for the third in the 81st minute, he completed the rout by finishing off a counter-attack one minute later. Ronaldo took his tally this season to 15 goals, including 13 in Serie A.
But Juventus were replaced at the top of Serie A later in the day as Inter beat Napoli 3-1, with Romelu Lukaku scoring twice along with Lautaro Martinez for Inter's first win at the San Paolo Stadium since 1997.
Lukaku scored early with a solo effort, taking the ball in his own half and finishing it off by curling a shot around a defender in off the post. Poor goalkeeping helped Lukaku to his second, half an hour in, with a shot through Alex Meret's legs.
Arkadiusz Milik pulled one back for Napoli before the break from close range but Martinez restored the two-goal advantage after the hour mark from close range after a failed interception from Kostas Manolas.
It was Napoli's second loss in three matches since Gennaro Gattuso replaced Carlo Ancelotti as coach.
Meanwhile, Zlatan Ibrahimovic's return failed to inspire AC Milan as the fallen giants were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Sampdoria in Serie A on Monday, failing to score for the third league game in a row.
The charismatic 38-year-old Swede was brought on to a rousing reception from the San Siro crowd in the 55th minute but Milan could still not find a way past their lowly opponents.
In his previous stint at the club, Ibrahimovic helped Milan win Serie A in 2010 11, their last major trophy. He left for Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the following season.
Milan also drew their previous home game 0-0, against Sassuolo, and their result on Monday - a public holiday in Italy - left them a miserable 12th in the Serie A standings, below Hellas Verona on goal difference.
In between, Milan were thrashed 5-0 by Atalanta, who on Monday beat Parma by the same scoreline with Josip Ilicic scoring twice to close in on the top four. Udinese also snatched a late 1-0 win against Lecce.
