Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo will return to Madrid on Tuesday to appear in court for tax fraud charges dating back to his time with Real Madrid.
The date with the tax man may have weighed heavily in Ronaldo’s mind on Monday as he missed a penalty for Juventus, although the Italian league leaders eased past bottom club Chievo 3-0 to pull nine points clear on top of Serie A.
Portuguese superstar Ronaldo had sealed Juventus’s first title of the season — a record eighth Italian Super Cup trophy against AC Milan last Wednesday.
But the 33-year-old was off-form in the first league game after the three-week winter break.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner missed numerous chances to score with Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino denying him a 15th league goal this season from the spot after 53 minutes.
But Juventus eased past Chievo with Douglas Costa and Emre Can scoring in the first half and Daniele Rugani heading in a third six minutes from time.
Chievo started their season with a 3-2 defeat to Juventus in Verona but ended 2018 with their first win and would have been in front of Frosinone had they not been deducted three points for false accounting.
They had lost just one of the previous eight games holding Napoli, Lazio and Inter.
Brazilian winger Costa scored the first with an impressive solo run from midfield after 13 minutes for his first league goal of the season.
Ronaldo’s appearance in court may be a mere formalty as earlier reports said he had agreed to pay 16.7 million euros to the Spanish tax man as final settlement of his tax liablities
