Ronaldo also reaches half-century of goals for Juve
Sunday 2 February 2020 15:50, UK
Cristiano Ronaldo converted two penalties in a 3-0 win over Fiorentina to match a Juventus goalscoring record and bring up the latest milestone of his illustrious career.
Ronaldo struck from the spot in each half (40, 80) to stretch his scoring streak to nine successive Serie A games, equalling a club record held by former striker David Trezeguet.
The Portugal international, whose double brought up the landmark of 50 goals for the Turin club, is two away from the Serie A record held by former Fiorentina striker Gabriel Batistuta, who struck in 11 straight matches in 1994.
Fiorentina held their own for much of the game but Ronaldo's cool head, plus a stoppage-time third from defender Matthijs de Ligt (90+1), ensured Juve Maurizio Sarri's leaders bounced back from last week's 2-1 defeat by Napoli.
"Ronaldo keeps on scoring and that is good for his state of mind," said Sarri.
"He's in great physical shape and is making the difference. The other forwards also did well and the problem is who to leave out."
Fiorentina, who suffered their first defeat in five league games under coach Giuseppe Iachini, could easily have scored first as Federico Chiesa forced Wojciech Szczesny to make a fingertip save, before Pol Lirola also kept the Juventus goalkeeper alert.
Instead, Juve were awarded the penalty after Miralem Pjanic's shot hit German Pezzella's raised hand and, after waiting for the referee to confirm his decision with the pitchside monitor, Ronaldo scored with a low shot to his left.
Marco Benassi was close to a Fiorentina equaliser after half-time, though Bartlomiej Dragowski did superbly to block Gonzalo Higuain's close-range effort at the other end after a Douglas Costa run.
Fiorentina's resistance ended when Rodrigo Bentancur slalomed his way through the defence and went down under a challenge from Federico Ceccherini, another penalty confirmed after a VAR review despite angry protests.
Ceccherini was booked for dissent and Ronaldo - who took his season tally to 19 - scored again with a shot to his left as Dragowski went the other way.
De Ligt outjumped the Fiorentina defence at a corner for the third and Ceccherini protested again to the referee after the final whistle as Ronaldo was able to celebrate yet another landmark day.
