Serie A: Juve boss Allegri fumes as Douglas Costa spitting overshadows Ronaldo goals
Milan: Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was furious at Douglas Costa for "rising to provocation" and being sent off for spitting in the face of a rival, after Cristiano Ronaldo had scored his first goals for Juventus in a 2-1 win over Sassuolo on Sunday.
Both Ronaldo's goals came in the second half, but the champions' fourth win in as many games this season was overshadowed by Brazilian Costa's late red card for spitting at Sassuolo's Federico Di Francesco -- the 24-year-old son of Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco.
Absolute disgusting from Douglas Costa, guy should be banned for life. pic.twitter.com/trWGH1gNGc
— Simply Utd (@SimplyUtd) September 16, 2018
"Maybe he was irritated at a foul before, but it doesn't matter, because these things should absolutely not happen. The one thing we must avoid is rising to provocation," said Allegri.
Ronaldo flicked in the first from close range in the 50th minute amid a scramble in front of goal, to euphoria at the Allianz Stadium, and grabbed a second 15 minutes later following a counter-attack involving Costa and Germany midfielder Emre Can.
Senegalese striker Khouma Babacar headed in a late goal for Sassuolo who fell to their first defeat of the season.
Just after Costa was given a yellow card for locking horns with Di Francesco, the two bickering players came together again and Costa spat at Di Francesco's face.
The incident was referred to VAR and Costa was sent off by the referee.
"We could have scored a third goal, but instead we started to play as individuals, we tried to dribble past everyone, this wound up the opposition, who then reacted badly and then you get situations like Douglas Costa," said Allegri.
Allegri said he knew it would be Ronaldo's day before their trip to Spain to play Valencia in the Champions League next Wednesday.
"You just had to see the first three games and how close Ronaldo went to scoring," he said.
"I think he rushed a couple of chances today -- it looked like he was absolutely desperate to score.
"Football has a way of evening things out and that was the story of the first goal, with the ball bouncing off the post and sitting up for him. The second goal was brilliant. I'm happy for him."
