Football: Cristiano Ronaldo returns and scores …

Cristiano Ronaldo marked his recovery from the coronavirus by scoring twice on his return to help Juventus beat newly promoted Spezia 4-1 in the Italian league, according to The Associated Press.

Juventus was struggling to break Spezia down until Ronaldo was brought on as a substitute in the 56th minute. He put Juventus 2-1 up three minutes later and also converted a penalty to seal the result for the Bianconeri.

“We had a good game, we should have been more clinical in the first half and finished off the match sooner,” Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo said.

“Then we did well when we came back out in the second half, with the desire to win the match, and Cristiano gave us a hand.”

Ronaldo had been out for three weeks after testing positive for COVID-19 while on international duty.

The Portugal forward missed three Juventus matches — draws with Crotone and Hellas Verona in Serie A as well as a loss to Barcelona in the Champions League.

Ronaldo started from the bench against Spezia with Álvaro Morata again replacing him in the starting lineup.