Juventus player ratings vs Cagliari: Ronaldo starts new decade with a hat trick

Juventus started the new year exactly how they had hoped, with a dominant win over Cagliari.

Neither team came particularly close to opening the scoring in the first half of this match, with Merit Demiral’s header off the crossbar being the best opportunity either team had to score in the first 45 minutes.

Then Juventus was given a gift early in the second half. One of Cagliari’s center backs played a really weak pass to their other center back, giving Cristiano Ronaldo the perfect chance to intercept the ball just outside the penalty area. He took the ball around Cagliari’s keeper, Robin Olsen, and easily passed it into the open net.

18 minutes later, Paulo Dybala drew a penalty to give Ronaldo the chance to double the lead and he didn’t disappoint, burying his shot in the corner. 14 minutes later, Juve would score a 3rd goal of the second half.

Ronaldo played a pass to substitute Gonzalo Higuain, who made a nice run to get into the penalty area and then create enough space to get a shot off. The shot was deflected, giving Cagliari’s keeper no chance.

It took Juve only 1 more minute to score their 4th goal. Douglas Costa made a run into the middle of the field, just outside Cagliari’s penalty area, and played a nice pass to Ronaldo on the left wing. Ronaldo easily beat Cagliari’s keeper at the near post to secure his hat trick and a 4-0 win for Juventus.

GK: Wojciech Szczesny 6.5/10

This was a rare easy day for Wojciech Szczesny, who was only forced to make one save in the match. The only other time he was really called into action was on a Cagliari header that ended up hitting the crossbar. He helped Juve start the new year with a clean sheet, but there just wasn’t much for him to do in this match. I’m sure he won’t he too upset about getting to take it easy for once.