Ronaldo Scores 750th Goal as Juventus Easily Beat Dynamo Kyiv

Assi di Coppe, Champions League, European Cups, Italian Football, Juventus, Serie A One comment

Group G of Champions League only needed four rounds to reveal the identity of the two teams qualified to the knockout stages – which were unsurprisingly Barcelona and Juventus – but the Italian champions still had to win their home fixture against Dynamo Kyiv to maintain their slim hopes of finishing top of the group. 

Juventus comfortably sealed the encounter thanks to goals from Federico Chiesa and Alvaro Morata, and a historic Cristiano Ronaldo goal in-between them, as Dynamo Kyiv had no answer to the Italians’ attacking prowess. 

Andrea Pirlo reverted to a 3-4-1-2 formation with captain Leonardo Bonucci returning in defense alongside youngsters Merih Demiral and Matthijs De Ligt, while Ronaldo and Morata started in attack, supported by Aaron Ramsey.

Juventus started the match well, threatening Dynamo Kyiv with a series of half-chances. Ronaldo’s low drive went a little wide of the post, Chiesa’s deflected shot almost found its way to the goal, and Weston McKennie’s header from a corner kick was saved by Heorhiy Bushchan. 

Rodrigo Bentancur kept causing problems for the Ukrainians with his corner kicks. The Uruguayan played it short to Morata who flicked it towards goal. Bushchan just parried it away, but Ronaldo almost caught the rebound. 

The home side didn’t have to wait too long to open the scoring. Bentancur once again found Morata – this time from a long ball – and the Spaniard set the ball for the overlapping Alex Sandro on the left. The Brazilian veteran played a great cross that found Chiesa’s head. The Dynamo Kyiv goalkeeper almost put a hand on it but the power took it through him, and the young winger opened his Juventus goalscoring account. 

The Bianconeri should have doubled their lead on the 30th minute. A long ball found Alex Sandro who was making a quick run towards the opposition penalty box. The wing-back brilliantly dribbled his way past two defenders and laid it off to Ronaldo, but his shot crashed on the woodwork. 

Before the end of the first half, the visitors’ performance gradually improved, and they almost equalized the score on the 40th minute. Tomasz Kędziora’s cross from the right was chested down brilliantly by Verbič towards Viktor Tsyhankov, but Wojciech Szczęsny dived down bravely to deny it. 

The second half started with another dangerous chance for Dynamo Kyiv. Kędziora crossed the ball towards the Juventus box, and although none of his teammates were able to reach it, Szczęsny once again had to dive down to make the save as the ball almost sailed into his bottom corner. 

One minute later, Ronaldo found himself on the edge of the box and decided to try his luck with a powerful shot, but Bushchan made the save. 

However, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner didn’t have to wait much longer to score his 750th career goal, as Chiesa made a courageous run down the right and passed the ball towards Morata who was running towards the mouth of the goal. The Dynamo Kyiv shot-stopper reached it first, but the ball hit Morata and was on its way towards goal when Ronaldo tapped in his 75th Juventus goal. 

At the 66th minute, the Bianconeri would unquestionably seal the match with a third goal. McKennie’s missed pass reached Chiesa, and the Italy international was once again instrumental in the goal, as his smart ball freed Morata who was able to comfortably finish it in the low bottom corner. 

After the third goal, the pace of the match considerably slew down, as both sides were no longer determined to add more goals, and Mykola Shaparenko’s shot in added time – which was saved by Szczęsny – was the only dangerous goalscoring opportunity in the last 20 minutes of the match. 

Thus, Juventus continue to hunt down Barcelona, and all eyes will be set on the Camp Nou encounter next week, where the two biggest players in the modern game will go head-to-head against one another. 

 

MATCH REPORT

December 2, 2020 – Champions League 2020-21 Group Stage
JUVENTUS-DYNAMO KYIV 3-0

SCORERS: 21′ Chiesa, 57′ Cristiano Ronaldo, 66′ Morata

JUVENTUS (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Demiral (69′ Dragusin), Bonucci (62′ Danilo), De Ligt; Chiesa (76′ Kulusevski), McKennie, Bentancur (76′ Arthur), Alex Sandro; Ramsey (62′ Bernardeschi); Morata, Cristiano Ronaldo (Pinsoglio, Dybala, Cuadrado, Rabiot, De Graca, Frabotta, Portanova) Coach: Pirlo
DYNAMO KYIV (3-5-2): Bushchan; Kedziora, Zabaryi, Popov, Mykolenko (84′ Karavaev); Shepeliev (72′ Garmash), Sydorchuk; Shaparenko, Tsygankov (92′ Lednev), Verbic (73′ Supryaga), Rodrigues (73′ De Pena) (Neshcheret, Boyko, Baluta, Shabanov, Andiyevskiy, Clayton, Syrota) Coach: Lucescu

REFEREE: Frappart (France)
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Bentancur (J), Zabarnyi (D); Extra Time: 1st Half 1′, 2nd Half 3′

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  3. Player Ratings for Juventus Against Porto: Chiesa Not Enough
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