Cristiano Ronaldo (No.7) of Juventus heads the ball during the match against Udinese on Sunday in Udine, Italy. Photo: VCG

Cristiano Ronaldo was denied a last-gasp winner to save Juventus after his stoppage-time header was ruled out for offside in a dramatic 2-2 draw at Udinese, while Jose Mourinho got off to a winning start at Roma with a 3-1 victory over Fiorentina.

Ronaldo started on the bench at the Dacia Arena in Udine amid rumors he is looking for a way out of the Italian giants, but he almost snatched the three points deep into stoppage time after Juve insisted he was going nowhere this term.

After the match returning coach Massimiliano Allegri played down the controversy, saying that he was always planning to bring on Ronaldo.

"Cristiano is OK... It's the start of the season and seeing the condition everyone is in and thinking about the game, especially at the beginning, I put him on the bench knowing that there would be a need for him to come on," he told broadcaster DAZN. 

Allegri's Juve looked to be cruising to victory when Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado put them two ahead midway through the first half.

But two second-half blunders from Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny allowed Udinese to take a point through Roberto Pereyra's penalty and a Gerard Deulofeu strike.

Ronaldo entered the field to loud applause from the Juve fans on the hour mark with Juve leading 2-1 and he was unlucky not to restore their two-goal advantage when his header from a Dybala cross flashed wide. 

And with just seconds left he wheeled away after meeting Federico Chiesa's pinpoint cross with a trademark header. However he could only watch on in desperation as his winner was chalked off by VAR.

Mourinho was made happy by two assists from new signing Tammy Abraham who shone on his Roma debut at the Stadio Olimpico.

With Fiorentina already down to 10 men, in the 26th minute Abraham slipped through Henrikh Mkhitaryan whose neat finish was given as a goal after a long VAR check.

Nicolo Zaniolo's second yellow card gave a brave Fiorentina side hope and Nikola Milenkovic levelled the scores on the hour mark. However great work again from Abraham led to Roma retaking the lead through Jordan Veretout four minutes later, the 23-year-old just about staying onside before rolling a perfect low cross which allowed the French midfielder to slot home.

Veretout made sure Mourinho got three points from his first match in Serie A since winning the league with Inter Milan in 2010 when he rolled home the third in the 79th minute after collecting a brilliant Eldor Shomurodov pass.