2021 and Cristiano Ronaldo continues to amaze, the 35-year-old rolled back the years to show that he’s still one of the best and most skilful dribblers around to craft a chance that Juventus scored from.
Ronaldo was only called off the bench in the 88th minute of the Old Lady’s Round of 16 Coppa Italia tie against Genoa, but played a key role in the Italian powerhouses snatching a winner in extra-time.
In the 103rd minute of the encounter, Ronaldo received the ball in the crowded box from Alvaro Morata, the superstar controlled the ball and used some smart dribbling and body feints to carry it out of the box – thereby protecting it from being snatched in the flooded penalty area.
Ronaldo then shuttled the ball between his feet as four Genoa players kept watch on him – three of which were close to the attacker.
The ex-Real Madrid and Manchester United star’s use of tidy ball rolls and finally a brilliant fake shot fooled all four of Genoa’s players trying to keep him at bay, as he slipped in Morata.
Morata then floated a ball into the middle of the area, with Hamza Rafia showing grit and a poacher’s mentality to collect the ball and drill it into back of the net on his professional debut.
What a time to score your debut goal! ?
Juventus’ Hamza Rafia strikes in extra-time in the #CoppaItalia to put his side 3-2 up against Genoa! ?? pic.twitter.com/Zhe9GmXq2n
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 13, 2021
Pictures from BT Sport.
Juventus have come away the winners at 3-2, with the side taking an early 2-0 lead before they collapsed to Genoa and had to secure their spot in the next round of the cup via extra-time.
Andrea Pirlo looked to the Portuguese superstar to provide the spark in extra-time and he certainly helped to do so, with Rafia capitalising on Ronaldo and Morata’s fine work to score a clutch winner.