Cristiano Ronaldo erased the frustration of his Champions League red card by scoring the opener and setting up Federico Bernardeschi for a second as Juventus maintained their perfect record in Serie A after five games with a 2-0 win at promoted Frosinone on Sunday.
The Portuguese star had threatened several times at the Stadio Benito Stirpe but finally found a way through nine minutes from time, and then helped substitute Bernardeschi to score Juve’s second four minutes into injury time.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner had scored his first goals last week with a double in a 2-1 win over Sassuolo, before the 33-year-old was sent off in tears on Wednesday in a 2-0 Champions League win over Valencia.
Juventus — the only unbeaten team in Serie A — have 15 points from five games, three points ahead of Napoli who beat Torino 3-1 earlier on Sunday.
Seven-time reigning champions Juventus and Napoli, last season’s runners-up, will go head-to-head next Saturday in Turin.
Frosinone had frustrated the champions for long periods but caved in late and have now conceded 12 goals to remain second bottom of the table with just one point.
“We expected this type of match. Frosinone had conceded five (goals) to Sampdoria and we played with 10 men for 70 minutes against Valencia on Wednesday,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
“We just needed to have patience and after many shots, crosses and passes, we found the breakthrough.”
Fiorentina and Sassuolo are joint third on ten points after beating SPAL (3-0) and Empoli (3-1) respectively this weekend.
Earlier Lorenzo Insigne bagged a brace to inspire Napoli to a 3-1 win in Torino, while Roma plunged further into crisis with a 2-0 loss at Bologna.
In Turin, Ancelotti switched things around following Napoli’s uninspiring goalless draw at Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League midweek.
Insigne played a more central role along with Dries Mertens as defender Sebastiano Luperto got his first start for the Serie A runners-up.
“I’m satisfied, we dominated in Belgrade but we couldn’t finish things off like we did today,” said Ancelotti.
“Insigne was decisive, but everyone put in a strong performance.”
The Italy winger struck his first after just four minutes when poor Torino defending saw Emiliano Moretti clear to Nicolas N’Koulou with the rebound favouring Insigne, who finished off under the crossbar.
Simone Verdi added the second with a half-volley on 20 minutes, with Torino pulling one back after the break when Andrea Belotti slotted in a penalty.
But Insigne restored Napoli’s two-goal lead after 59 minutes to condemn Torino to 15th position with five points.
– Roma in crisis –
Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco is under increasing pressure after a fourth league game without a win sees last year’s third-placed team slump to 14th with five points.
“The facts condemn us, they condemn me. Clearly something has to change. I feel I’m one of those to blame,” said Di Francesco, who lamented his side’s lack of “inner fire”.
Last year’s Champions League semi-finalists also fell 3-0 at Real Madrid midweek, and have not won a league game since their first game against Torino.
Federico Mattiello curled in Bologna’s first goal of the season after 36 minutes with Paraguayan Federico Santander adding the second after 59 minutes.
Bologna nevertheless remain 18th after their first win of the season.
Next weekend Roma face bitter city rivals Lazio, who saw off Genoa 4-1 on Sunday with Ciro Immobile scoring a double, to move up to fifth place.
Inter Milan snatched a late 1-0 win against Sampdoria in Genoa on Saturday to move into ninth, two points ahead of city rivals AC Milan who were held 2-2 by Atalanta despite leading twice at the San Siro.
Gonzalo Higuain volleyed in for Milan after just two minutes, but Papu Gomez snatched the equaliser on 54 minutes.
Giacomo Bonaventura had a goal disallowed in the first half but made no mistake after 61 minutes, only for Emiliano Rigoni to snatch a point for the visitors in injury time.
Agence France-Presse
