Football

Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘NBA header’ seals Juventus victory as Bayern strike late


A superb Cristiano Ronaldo header sent Juventus three points clear at the top of Serie A with a 2-1 victory at Sampdoria. Paulo Dybala’s exquisite volley put the champions in front before Gianluca Caprari levelled, but a remarkable leap and towering header from Ronaldo on the brink of halftime proved decisive.

“Ronaldo did something that you see in the NBA; he was up in the air for an hour and a half,” said the Sampdoria coach, Claudio Ranieri. “There’s nothing you can say about it, you can only congratulate him and move on.”

Ronaldo was denied a second goal by the offside flag late on before Caprari was sent off in stoppage time after a second yellow card.

“The whole team showed the right attitude,” Ronaldo told Sky Italia. “It was a good goal and I am glad to help the team with another three points. I had problems with my knee for a month but that has gone now and I feel good physically.”

It was a special night for Gianluigi Buffon as the veteran goalkeeper equalled Paolo Maldini’s record of 647 Serie A appearances and set a Juventus Serie A appearance record of 479 games, one more than Alessandro Del Piero.

Juventus top the table with 42 points, although second-placed Internazionale (39) have a game in hand.

Maurizio Sarri fielded the attacking trident of Ronaldo, Dybala and Gonzalo Higuaín for the second game in a row and his side took the lead after 19 minutes when Dybala struck a sublime volley into the bottom corner.

Sampdoria drew level 10 minutes before the break when Caprari swept a finish past Buffon after a defensive mix-up.

Juve, however, went back in front through Ronaldo’s extraordinary header. The Portuguese was calculated to have jumped 71 centimetres off the ground to meet Sandro’s cross at a height of 2.56 metres, before powering home. He has scored five goals in his last six appearances for Juventus.

“Ronaldo did something that you see in the NBA; he was up in the air for an hour and a half,” said the Sampdoria coach, Claudio Ranieri. “There’s nothing you can say about it, you can only congratulate him and move on.”

Juventus head to Saudi Arabia this week where they will face the Coppa Italia holders, Lazio, in the Supercoppa Italiana in Riyadh on Sunday before the winter break, which runs until the first weekend of January.

Bayern Munich’s Joshua Zirkzee and Serge Gnabry scored stoppage-time goals to give the Bundesliga champions a 3-1 win at Freiburg on Wednesday while Borussia Moenchengladbach joined RB Leipzig at the top of the table with a 2-0 win over Paderborn.

Bayern looked set to drop points until Zirkzee scored his first Bundesliga goal a minute after coming on as a substitute, with Gnabry making sure of the victory. The win, however, could not mask Bayern’s defensive weaknesses, with the team having now conceded at least one goal in their last four league games.

Bayern got off to a strong start, hitting the post through Thomas Müller before Robert Lewandowski’s 19th league goal of the season gave them the lead in the 16th minute.

Freiburg, however, gradually gained control of the midfield, attacking with greater ease as the Bavarians were punished once more for their complacency. Vincenzo Grifo volleyed in to level on the hour, completing a superb attacking move from the hosts.

Zirkzee, the 18-year-old Dutch youth international, then slipped into the box and slotted in from close range before Gnabry added another. Bayern are third on 30 points, ahead of fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund on goal difference.

“It was a game with many ups and downs. Fortunately, with a happy finish in the end,” Bayern interim coach, Hans Flick, told reporters. “At the end we had a bit of luck. Freiburg played well, they put us under pressure.”

On his decision to bring on Zirkzee in stoppage time, Flick said: “I thought if a cross comes in then he could put it in. He has been with us [from the reserves] for the past three weeks and his development is very noticeable.”

Second-half goals from Alassane Plea and Lars Stindl gave Gladbach a comfortable 2-0 win over Paderborn and lifted them to 34 points, second on goal difference behind RB Leipzig.



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