Cristiano Ronaldo was too ill to play but even without their biggest star, Juventus cruised into the last eight of the Italian Cup on Wednesday.

Juventus beat visiting Udinese 4-0 in the late game, after Milan had dispatched SPAL, 3-0.

Ronaldo was sidelined after suffering an attack of sinusitis in the afternoon, but he is not the only ace in the Juventus pack.

After 16 minutes, Paulo Dybala carved through Udinese with a series of quick one-twos, finishing with a couple of exchanges with centre forward Gonzalo Higuain.

When his Argentine compatriot played a pass one little behind him, Dybala spun and floated the ball onto Higuain’s chest and he strode forward and scored.

“That was a goal of rare beauty, to see three or four exchanges like that at high speed. It was worth the price of the ticket,” said Juve coach Maurizio Sarri.

“I love to see goals like that with fast passing, but they can only work with players of great technical quality.”