Cristiano Ronaldo recovered from Juventus’ Champions League humiliating elimination by Porto with a hattrick of goals, leading the Italian Champions to a 3-1 win over Cagliari in Sunday’s Serie A fixture.
The 36-year-old former Real Madrid man was anonymous in his team’s 3-2 win over Porto which was however not enough to take them into the quarter finals of the UCL, but responded with the perfect hattrick.
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Ronaldo scored a header and with both right and left foot respectively in the first 32 minutes of the match to make good his words barely 24 hours after stating on social media he is fully committed to winning trophies this season for the Turin-based club.
“More important than the number of falls you take in life, is how fast and how strong you get back on your feet… True champions never break! Our focus is already in Cagliari, in the Serie A struggle, in the Italian Cup final and in everything that we can still achieve this season,” the Portugal captain stated in an Instagram post.
Ronaldo met a corner with his trademark leap and header to give Juve the lead with his 134th career headed goal on nine minutes and doubled their advantage with a penalty kick he won for 2-0.
The five-time UCL winner delivered the third with a left-footed low shot into the corner in the 32nd minute to score his 770th career goal and complete his hattrick.
The hattrick is also the former Manchester United winger’s 57th in his glistering career, and he has scored 23 league goals in 23 appearances this season.
Juventus however remain third in the table, ten points behind leaders Inter Milan who also won 2-1 at Torino thanks to goals from Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez.