Cristiano Ronaldo forgot all about his red card and tears in the Champions League as he added another goal to his Juventus tally.
The Portuguese star broke Frosinone hearts as he scored late on against the Serie A minnows to help maintain Juve’s perfect start to the season.
The Italian giants have now won all five of their league games so far and their 100% start has them three points clear of second-placed Napoli.
Ronaldo’s effort was the third goal for his new club, following his brace in their previous league match. Federico Bernardeschi scored Juve’s other goal during stoppage time in a 2-0 win.
Ronaldo’s performance against Frosinone had a feeling of redemption after his controversial dismissal against Valencia in the Champions League when he was deemed to have lashed out against defender Jeison Murillo and was subsequently sent off for violent conduct.
All that was seemingly forgotten as CR7 posted a message on Instagram praising his side’s start to the season.
“Another important victory! Come on guys, all together!” he wrote.
Messi responds
Sunday was the first time since 2009 that Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both scored on the same day in different leagues.
Much has changed since then. The pair have won a combined nine Ballon d’Or awards, nine La Liga titles and Ronaldo has moved clubs twice.
The Argentine’s effort had less of an impact than Ronaldo’s at the weekend though as Barcelona dropped their first points of the new La Liga season with a frustrating 2-2 draw at home to fellow Catalans Girona.
Messi’s early effort had looked to set Barcelona on their way but the visitors responded with two goals in the second half. Barca, who played the majority of the match with 10-men after Clément Lenglet’s first-half dismissal, had to rely on a late equalizer from Gerard Pique.
Despite the result, the reigning league champions are still tied with familiar foes Real Madrid at the top of the league.
Anthony Joshua continues run
World heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua continued his storied career with a seventh-round stoppage against Alexander Povetkin, on a pulsating night at Wembley Stadium.
With Joshua defending his IBF, WBA and WBO titles on Saturday, the bout certainly lived up to its billing as the Briton was severely tested by the Russian who had previously been unbeaten over the distance.
Despite a tricky few opening rounds, the Brit begun to assert his dominance and a combination of powerful punches saw his opponent hit the canvas, much to the excitement of Joshua’s adoring home fans.
“I came in here to have fun, and give it my best. I knew he was strong to the head but weak to the body. I was just mixing it up,” Joshua said after the bout.
“And I got my knockout streak back.”
The pressure will now be on his camp to secure a fight against one of the top fighters in the division, namely one of Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury — who earlier this week confirmed their fight for December 1.
Drew Brees sets NFL record
New Orlean Saints stormed to a 43-37 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons at the weekend, largely thanks to quarterback Drew Brees.
The 39-year-old was in superior form and has now completed more passes than any other player in NFL history.
His 14th completed pass of the day saw him surpass Hall of Famer Brett Favre to reach 6,300 career passes in total.
“I hope there’s a lot more coming, but I just think about all of the people that had a hand in that,” Brees told reporters after the win.
“A lot of hands have caught those passes, and a lot of guys have blocked to make those happen. They all are a part of this, absolutely.”
And the record breaking doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.
Brees is now also only 417 yards away from Peyton Manning’s mark of 71,940 career passing yards, a record which is likely to fall in the coming weeks.
Team Europe victorious
The Ryder Cup may just a few days away, but Team Europe already has a sporting victory.
Courtesy of wins from Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev, Team Europe beat Team World to the Laver Cup on Sunday.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev beat South African Kevin Anderson to cement the success, as Europe retained the trophy 13-8 in Chicago.
This was the second edition of the competition which sees teams from Europe and the rest of the world face off in a light-hearted manner.
Europe boasted a wealth of quality in their side. Federer and Zverev were joined by the likes of current US Open champion Novak Djokovic.
“I’m just happy to get the win and we defended the title,” 21-year-old Zverev told reporters.
“I mean, Roger [Federer] is not a good coach, but we will leave that,” quipped Zverev. “No, he helped me a lot, he gave me some tactical advice and it worked.”
