Cristiano Ronaldo relieved to see free-kick enter: "I really needed that!"

Cristiano Ronaldo admitted feeling a sense of relief after finally scoring from a free-kick in Juventus' 4-1 win over Torino this afternoon. Juve were comfortable winners in the derby and Ronaldo played a major role in their triumph, setting up Juan Cuadrado before then making it 3-1, with Paulo Dybala having initially opened the scoring early on. 

Juve go seven points clear

Koffi Djidji's late own goal summed up the visitors' haplessness as he turned Douglas Costa's cross past Salvatore Sirigu, with Juve opening up a seven-point lead over Lazio at the summit.  Ronaldo's stunning strike was his first direct free-kick goal in 43 attempts at Juventus, and he acknowledged that his profligacy from such situations had been weighing on his mind. 

"I really needed that free-kick so I could get a bit of confidence [from free-kicks] back," he told Sky Sport Italia. "[But] the important thing is to win regardless of who scores, be it Cristiano or Dybala. It is very important to win, but the truth is that we are doing well, Dybala and me, but the team is also doing very well, we are improving our confidence and against Milan we will try to win. "

It had not dawned on Maurizio Sarri how much such a goal mattered to Ronaldo either. He added: "I didn't think he was suffering from the lack of a free-kick goal, but then he said 'finally' and then I understood he was."

Milan up next

Juventus are next in action on Tuesday as they go to AC Milan in Serie A.