UDINE, Italy, Oct 07 (AFP): Cristiano Ronaldo, embroiled in rape allegations, scored for Juventus in Saturday's Serie A game against Udinese.
The Portuguese forward lashed in the second goal for the Italian champions after 37 minutes from the left following a cross from Croatia's Mario Mandzukic.
It was his fourth this season for Juventus, with the 33-year-old celebrating wildly with his teammates.
Ronaldo showed no sign of being under pressure despite the damaging accusations made against him and which threaten his multi-million euro sporting empire.
US police on Monday re-opened an investigation into accusations by former American model Kathryn Mayorga that the five-time Ballon d'Or winner raped her in a Las Vegas hotel in June 2009.
Ronaldo has strenuously denied the claims, and Juventus have so far stood behind the 33-year-old superstar, who moved to Turin in the summer in a 100 million euro ($115 million) deal from Real Madrid.
He arrived at Udinese's compact Stadio Friuli and was greeted by the enthusiastic cries of dozens of children waiting for the two team buses.
During warm-up before the game he was even approached by a child who came onto the pitch to ask for his autograph.
Meanwhile, steven Nzonzi and Edin Dzeko scored in either half as resurgent Roma won their fourth consecutive game to move third in Serie A with a 2-0 win over promoted Empoli in Tuscany on Saturday.
Eusebio Di Francesco's side had slumped to ninth after a four-game winless streak, but jumped into the top three with a win over second-from-bottom Empoli.
French World Cup winner Nzonzi headed in his first goal for Roma since his move from Sevilla in the 36th minute, with Bosnian ace Dzeko following his midweek Champions League hat-trick against Viktoria Plzen by wrapping up the points five minutes from time.
Teenage defender Luca Pellegrini got his first Roma start, with midfielder Javier Pastore and centre-back Aleksandar Kolarov injured.
Lorenzo Pellegrini sent a free-kick over for Nzonzi to get the opener with Empoli proving wasteful.
