Juventus head coach Andrea Pirlo lauded Cristiano Ronaldo s adaptability as the defending Serie A champions beat Roma 2-0 on Saturday.
Ronaldo and an Ibanez own goal saw Juve to victory at Allianz Stadium, where the Italian giants claimed their third successive league victory.
A day after his 36th birthday, Ronaldo opened the scoring when his deflected strike clattered down off the underside of the crossbar in the 22nd minute before Ibanez s 69th-minute own goal put the result beyond doubt.
Ronaldo has been directly involved in 84 goals since his Serie A debut in 2018, scoring 68 goals and providing 16 assists, more than any other player in the competition, while the five-time Ballon d Or winner has now scored 16 times across 17 league appearances this season.
Pirlo praised Ronaldo s willingness to adapt after Juve beat Roma, telling reporters: Since the beginning of the season, Cristiano s made himself adaptable to our needs on the pitch.
In some games he s played more like a proper number nine when we asked our other striker to close down the opposition s playmaker.
In these games, he can play closer to the penalty area and be more effective in terms of goal scoring.
He s always adapted to what I ve asked him to do this season and therefore I m very calm about this part of how we play.
Happy to score and help the team against a tough opponent! 3 important points!
Well done lads
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano)
Juve are now third in the Serie A standings in pursuit of their 10th consecutive Scudetto.
Pirlo s men are four points behind second-placed Milan – who are due to face Crotone on Sunday – and five adrift of leaders Inter, though Juve have played a game less.
Juve have won six successive games across all competitions, and Pirlo added: I don t know if it was our best performance this season. For sure we played a great match.
Especially because after the match we played on Tuesday at San Siro [semi-final first leg against Inter in Coppa Italia]. We had to recover energy even if we rotated many players. The team had spent a lot of mental energy in that match.
We faced a strong opponent [Roma] that force you to run a lot on the defensive side and I think that especially under this aspect we played a brilliant match tonight.
