Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus follow-up Italian Super Cup win by beating Bologna in Serie A

Arthur and McKennie grab the goals as Pirlo's side bounce back from their defeat to Inter last weekend

Weston McKennie celebrates after scoring Juventus' second goal in their Serie A win over Bologna on Sunday, January 24. AFP

Juve's Cristiano Ronaldo shoots at goal under pressure from Musa Barrow of Bologna at the Allianz Stadium in Turin. EPA

Juventus manager Andrea Pirlo. AP

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo. Reuters

Juventus' Adrien Rabiot shoots at goal. EPA

Juventus' Arthur Melo celebrates scoring their opener. Reuters

Bologna's Mitchell Dijks and Juve goalscorer Weston McKennie go for a header. AFP

Juventus' Weston McKennie celebrates scoring their second. Reuters

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates with midfielder Arthur his goal. AFP

Juventus midfielder Juan Cuadrado shoots on goal. AFP

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo. AFP

Arthur Melo scores Juve's opening goal. Getty

Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo scored his first goal for Serie A champions Juventus in a 2-0 win over Bologna on Sunday to pile the pressure on both Milan teams.

Andrea Pirlo's side bounced back from last weekend's 2-0 league defeat by Inter Milan, and followed on from their morale-boosting Italian Super Cup triumph over Napoli midweek.

AC Milan held top spot in Serie A on Saturday despite falling 3-0 at home against Atalanta after second-placed Inter were held to a goalless draw at Udinese.

Roma are third after a 4-3 win over Spezia on Saturday with Juventus moving fourth ahead of Atalanta into the Champions League berths, seven points behind AC Milan with a game in hand.

Juventus dominated 13th-placed Bologna in Turin with Arthur breaking through after quarter of an hour with a long-range shot that took a big deflection off Bologna defender Jerdy Schouten.

It was the first goal for the ex-Barcelona player in 19 appearances since joining Juventus from the La Liga side last summer for €82 million ($99m).

US midfielder Weston McKennie grabbed the second on 71 minutes heading home from a corner, for his fourth goal since moving from Bundesliga side Schalke.

"McKennie is always in the right place, he has great vision," said Pirlo, hailing an "important" win after last week's defeat to Inter in the San Siro.

"We are a strong team, it all depends on us. As we demonstrated in the Super Cup we are not the team seen in the San Siro.

"We did well in the first half but if you don't manage to close it, the games always remain in the balance."

Bologna could have suffered more but for goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski denying Adrien Rabiot and Cristiano Ronaldo in the final four minutes, having also been decisive in the first half.

Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt returned from coronaivrus, coming off the bench for the last quarter of an hour as Juventus extended their unbeaten run against Bologna going back a decade.

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Gallery: Ronaldo and Juve win Italian Super Cup

Juventus' forward Cristiano Ronaldo with the Italian Super Cup after beating Napoli 2-0 at Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia on January 21. AFP

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo under pressure from Hirving Lozano Giovanni and Di Lorenzo of Napoli. AFP

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo and Tiemoue Bakayoko of Napoli. EPA

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo. EPA

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo and Kalidou Koulibaly of Napoli. EPA

Napoli defender Konstantinos Manolas tackles Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo. AFP

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo shoots past Napoli keeper David Ospina to open the scoring. AFP

Ronaldo scores Juve's first goal. AFP

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo after winning the Super Cup. AFP

Juventus' Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo shoots on goal. AFP

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates with Dejan Kulusevski and Weston McKennie. AFP

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates with Federico Bernardeschi. AFP

Juventus' Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo. AFP