32′ WIDE! Cragno can only half-clear the corner with his punch and it drops for Bonucci to strike on the volley. The effort flies a good couple of yards wide of the target.
31′ Juventus pass the ball around in the final third but Cagliari are forming a solid shape across the back. Ronaldo takes matters into his own hands by drilling an angled shot towards goal, with the ball looping wide of the far post for a corner.
29′ Ceppitelli does well to intercept the ball, preventing Ronaldo from inevitably converting from six yards out. Play resumes following the first cooling break of a pretty lively contest.
27′ Over the past eight seasons, Juventus have never lost a game in the round after winning the Scudetto (W6 D2). That record is now under threat.
25′ SARRI BOOKED! Juve head coach Sarri is shown a yellow card by referee Davide Ghersini for protesting the decision to book Pjanic.
24′ Pjanic joins opposite number Roj in the referee’s book for a challenge on Pedro. He will now miss Juve’s next game, which was due to be his last in Serie A before joining Barcelona.
23′ Six shots on target in the opening quarter of the game – it has been a lively start to the match at the Sardegna Arena. Juventus has had two of those on-target attempts but are nowhere near full flow at the moment, with Ronaldo – his offside goal aside – not really getting involved.
21′ Possession has been split near enough down the middle so far. There has been little between the sides but Cagliari hold a one-goal lead thanks to Gagliano’s close-range finish after eight minutes.
19′ ANOTHER SAVE! Ionita wins the ball back for Cagliari and feeds it to Pedro on his left. Pedro becomes the latest player to test Buffon with a low shot from range, which the Juve legend makes no mistake in keeping out.
M. Rog
Yellow Card
17′ Bentancur is caught by Rog and the Cagliari midfielder becomes the first player to be shown a yellow card today.
16′ GOAL DISALLOWED! Bernardeschi pokes the ball through for Ronaldo and the superstar forward helps it on its way past Cragno, but he is clearly offside and the flag soon goes up.
14′ Juventus are penned in at the moment. The hosts win a corner and it is sent into a good position, but the headed attempt from Walukiewicz is off target.
12′ GOOD EFFORT! Mattiello makes good contact with a volley that Buffon is equal to down low. Cagliari look well up for this game as they go in search of a second goal against the champions.
10′ Cagliari captain Ceppitelli gets a vital touch to a cross to prevent Ronaldo from heading in from a few yards out. Juventus are looking to quickly hit back following that early setback.
F. Mattiello
Assist
8′ Mattiello will perhaps wonder how Farago’s cross made it as far as him near the back post. The wing-back spotted Gagliano in front of goal and his team-mate did the rest.
L. Gagliano
Goal
8′ GOOOOAAAAALLLL!!! CAGLIARI 1-0 JUVENTUS!! The champions are behind inside eight minutes! Cuadrado and Rugani fail to cut out a right-sided cross and, once it is played back into the middle by Mattiello, Gagliano sticks out a leg to turn it in from six yards.
7′ Higuain is slipped in down the right and, despite the angle being against him, tries to catch out Cragno with an early shot. The Cagliari keeper makes the save and the offside flag went up anyway.
6′ Pedro horribly overhits a cross from deep and Buffon gathers with both hands. It has been a pretty even opening seven minutes or so to the contest at the Sardegna Arena.
5′ SHOT! Ronaldo drives forward but has a sea of bodies in front of him so shifts the ball to Muratore. The full debutant hits it first time and Cragno, like Buffon a couple of minutes ago, has a comfortable save to make.
3′ SAVE! Gagliano works room for a shot just outside the box and tests Buffon with a low attempt. It is a routine save for the veteran keeper, who is filling in for Szczesny today.
2′ Bernardeschi’s whipped cross from the right is well dealt with by Cragno. Juventus have seen plenty of the ball in the early stages of the game.
1′ KICK-OFF! Cagliari get us up and running against nine-in-a-row champions Juventus.
Both sets of players are making their way down the tunnel at the Sardegna Arena and kick-off is now moments away. This game will be played behind closed doors, which has been the case in every Serie A fixture since last month’s restart.
Juventus are unbeaten in their last 18 Serie A meetings with Cagliari, winning 15 of those. Indeed, today’s hosts have only beaten Juve 11 times in their previous 77 encounters, most recently going down 4-0 in January’s reverse fixture.
Subs: Wesley, Carlo Pinsoglio, Daouda Peeters, Gianluca Frabotta, Blaise Matuidi, Wojciech Szczesny, Merih Demiral, Luca Coccolo, Marco Olivieri, Giacomo Vrioni, Luca Zanimacchia.
JUVENTUS XI (4-3-3): Gianluigi Buffon (c); Juan Cuadrado, Leonardo Bonucci, Daniele Rugani, Alex Sandro; Rodrigo Bentancur, Miralem Pjanic, Simone Muratore; Federico Bernardeschi, Gonzalo Higuain, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Subs: Rafael, Riccardo Ladinetti, Andrea Carboni, Daniele Ragatzu, Federico Marigosu, Alberto Paloschi, Charalampos Lykogiannis, Valter Birsa, Isaias Del Pupo, Fabio Pisacane, Alessandro Lombardi, Gaston Pereiro.
CAGLIARI XI (3-5-2): Alessio Cragno; Sebastian Walukiewicz, Luca Ceppitelli (c), Ragnar Klavan; Paolo Farago, Marko Rog, Artur Ionita, Luca Gagliano, Federico Mattiello; Giovanni Simeone, Joao Pedro.
Cagliari enter this game winless in eight matches and have suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Lazio and Udinese. Walter Zenga’s side started the day in 14th place, 10 points clear of the relegation zone and four points off the top half, leaving them jostling for position in mid-table.
Juventus beat Sampdoria 2-0 on Sunday to seal top spot and a ninth successive Scudetto triumph. Maurizio Sarri’s men will be looking to pick up successive victories in their two remaining league games ahead of next week’s Champions League last-16 second leg against Lyon.
Hello and welcome to our live text coverage of the Serie A clash between Cagliari and Juventus at the Sardegna Arena.
M. Pjanić
Yellow Card