Cristiano Ronaldo on target for Juventus in triumphant return to Serie A

Paulo Dybala also scores against Bologna to ease pressure on manager Maurizio Sarri

Juventus' Paulo Dybala celebrates scoring with Cristiano Ronaldo, right, and teammates during the Serie A match against Bologna at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Monday. AP

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring against Bologna at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. AP

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo was playing his first Serie A match since restart. Reuters

Juventus' Paulo Dybala celebrates scoring at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. AP

Rodrigo Palacio, left, of Bologna at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Monday. Getty

Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo jumps for the ball against Bologna's Danilo and Musa Juwara. AP

Juventus' Paulo Dybala celebrates scoring their second goal. Reuters

Bologna's Nicola Sansone controls the ball against Juventus' Rodrigo Bentancur. AP

Juventus' Paulo Dybala in action with Bologna's Musa Barrow. Reuters

Juventus' Italian manager Maurizio Sarri. AFP

Cristiano Ronaldo converted a first-half penalty as leaders Juventus resumed their Serie A campaign with a 2-0 win at Bologna on Monday, easing the pressure on manager Maurizio Sarri.

Ronaldo had missed a spot kick in a Coppa Italia match against AC Milan 10 days ago, but made no mistake in the 23rd minute against Bologna. Paulo Dybala curled in a fine second before halftime to give the Turin side a comfortable win.

Juventus, chasing a ninth successive title, extended their lead to four points over Lazio with 66 points from 27 games.

Juve's failure to score in two Coppa Italia games, coupled with their defeat on penalties to Napoli in Wednesday's final, raised questions over Sarri, who has struggled to impose his style of play in his first season at the club.

There were no questions about the Juventus defence, however, which kept a fourth straight clean sheet in all competitions.

"I think there's been too much talk, we have to square up and respond with facts like tonight," said defender Leonardo Bonucci.

"It's normal to talk about what happened after defeat, especially in a final. We had a discussion and traced a plan, which has been seen today."

After fielding Ronaldo in an unfamiliar centre-forward role against Napoli, Sarri returned the Portuguese to his more comfortable position wide of the centre.

Juve got the breakthrough when Stefano Denswil grabbed Matthijs de Ligt's shirt at a corner and Ronaldo drilled home his 22nd league goal of the season from the spot.

A clever backheel by Federico Bernardeschi set up the second for Dybala who curled one beyond goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski.

"We need confidence and this victory will help us," said Dybala.

"It's not easy to be brilliant right now, we hadn't been playing for a long time.

"If we had won the [Coppa Italia] final everyone would have complimented us, because on a tactical level we have had a great game, even if we were not brilliant, but we conceded little.

"Today we played a great game, even if after 2-0 we gave up a bit."