Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to score a brace on his return from coronavirus as Juventus got back to winning ways in Italian Serie A with a 4-1 victory against promoted Spezia.
The champions ended a run of three consecutive draws to move third in Serie A, four points behind leaders AC Milan, who beat Udinese 2-1 thanks to a spectacular late winner from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Ronaldo replaced Paulo Dybala in the 56th minute in Cesena with the match level after Tommaso Pobega had cancelled out Alvaro Morata's opener for Juventus.
The Portuguese star put Juve in front just three minutes later and, after Adrien Rabiot grabbed a third on 68 minutes, Ronaldo scored a second from the penalty spot with 15 minutes to go for his fifth goal in three league games this season.
"Cristiano is back. This is the important thing," said Ronaldo, who had been furious at missing Juventus' 2-0 defeat in midweek by Lionel Messi's Barcelona in the Champions League.
"I was stopped for a long time even though I had no symptoms and felt good. "
Ronaldo had been Covid-positive for 19 days after a test while on international duty with Portugal, missing four games.
In Spain, David Silva scored his first goal for Real Sociedad to help them go back to the top of La Liga after a 4-1 win over Celta Vigo.
Silva headed Sociedad in front at Balaidos for his first goal since he left Manchester City in the summer.
In France, Lille lost ground on Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain after a 1-1 draw at home to 10-man Lyon but kept their unbeaten record this season intact.
Cristiano Ronaldo, with Federico Chiesa, scored twice for Juve. REUTERS
