Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to score a brace on his return from coronavirus as Juventus got back to winning ways with a 4-1 victory in Serie A against promoted Spezia on Sunday.
Ronaldo replaced Paulo Dybala in the 56th minute in Cesena with the match level after Tommaso Pobega had cancelled out Alvaro Morato’s opener for Juventus. But the Portuguese striker put Juve in front just three minutes later. Adrien Rabiot grabbed a third on 68 minutes, with Ronaldo scoring a second from the penalty spot with 15 minutes to go for his fifth goal in three league games this season.
The champions ended a run of three consecutive draws to move second in Serie A, four points behind leaders AC Milan.
The nine-time defending champions had won their opener against Sampdoria in September, their only victory on the pitch in Serie A this season, before three draws.
Between those matches they were awarded a 3-0 victory after Napoli refused to travel to Turin on October 4 because of coronavirus cases.
Ronaldo missed four games for Juventus including the midweek 2-0 Champions League defeat against Barcelona in Turin.