Udinese - Juventus: Serie A 2018/19 fixture as it happened, match report
Juventus comfortably see off a weak Udinese, with two first-half goals from Betancur and Ronaldo to give The Old Lady 24 points from 24 in Serie A.
Udinese vs Juventus match report:
Juventus secured their eighth consecutive victory in Serie A after a comfortable victory in Udinese, with Cristiano Ronaldo netting his fourth goal for The Old Lady after his return to action following his midweek Champions Leg suspension.
Udinese started the game brightly and showed some intent, but it was not long before Juventus took charge. The hosts were doing well to withstand the Juve pressure for 25 minutes, but the inevitable first Juve goal came in the 33rd minute through Betancur, who leaped high to rifle home a header from a well-placed Cancelo cross.
Just four minutes later, Ronaldo made up for missing an earlier chance with his head by scoring the second to put the game virtually past Udinese. Mandzukic got on the end of a long ball and squared it back to the Portuguese, who drove it into the bottom right corner from 12 yards out. The half-time whistle blew 8 minutes later with Juve in the driving seat as expected.
Juve had less to give in the second half and it took them until 75 minutes to really get back into their stride, during which time Udinese had a couple of half-chances. In the last 15 minutes, both Ronaldo and substitute Bernardeschi came close to scoring. But it was full-back Cancelo who came the closest to making it 3-0 in the 85th minute when his long range-effort was tipped onto the cross bar by Scuffet. The Udinese keeper had a decent game despite his side losing 2-0. And it could have been a bigger deficit without him between the posts.
The 2-0 victory gives The Old Lady 24 points from a possible 24, as they already look to be cruising to an eighth Serie A title.
Udinese vs Juventus at it happened:
Udinese vs Juventus preview:
After missing out on the midweek Champions League clash with Young Boys due to suspension, Cristiano Ronaldo returns to action for Juventus this evening, as the Serie A giants travel to Udinese.
With an incredible nine wins from nine games in both Serie A and the Champions League, Juve have had their best start to a season in their history, and will be expected to keep their winning run going against Udinese, who have only managed to win two of their seven league games so far this season. The Old Lady are unbeaten in 13 out of their last 14 matches against the Zebrette.
Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri will be expected to name a full strength side, with the potent strike force of Pablo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic and Ronaldo likely to cause major problems for the Udinese defence. Leonardo Spinazzola, Daniele Rugani, Sami Khedira are not available through injury for Allegri, while Douglas Costa remains suspended following the spitting incident against Sassuolo.
Udinese would love to get a win after last’s week’s 2-1 defeat away to Bologna, and will be hoping their 20-million-euro signing from Juve this summer, central midfielder Rolando Mandragora will help lead the charge against his former club. But considering Juve’s recent form and past results between these two, a shock Udinese victory is extremely unlikely.