MILAN, Aug 23: Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench as Massimiliano Allegri’s return to Juventus got off to a disappointing start on Sunday. Two mistakes from goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny saw his side relinquish an early two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Udinese in the Italian league.
Ronaldo didn’t start amid reports he had asked to be on the bench and that he could still leave Juventus with a year remaining on his contract. When he did come on in the second half, Ronaldo thought he had scored a stoppage-time winner but it was ruled offside after he had ripped off his shirt in celebration.
Paulo Dybala scored and set up another goal to give Juventus what looked like a comfortable advantage a quarter of the way through the match.
Juan Cuadrado and Rodrigo Bentancur combined before the latter pulled the ball back for Dybala to drill across into the bottom left corner and give Juventus a third-minute lead.
Cuadrado then skipped past a couple of defenders before shooting into the far bottom corner.
Udinese got back into the match six minutes into the second half after Szczęsny brought down Tolgay Arslan. Roberto Pereyra struck the penalty into the bottom right corner.
Udinese scored again as Szczęsny failed to deal with a simple-looking back pass from Leonardo Bonucci and Stefano Okaka stole the ball to set up Deulofeu.
José Mourinho has also returned to Serie A and his Roma side beat Fiorentina 3-1. New Roma forward Tammy Abraham had a fantastic debut as he set up both his side’s goals
Venezia’s return to Serie A ended in disappointment as it lost 2-0 at 10-man Napoli.
Salernitana’s first match back in the top flight for more than 20 years also ended in disappointment as lost 3-2 at Bologna. (AP)
