MILAN, Nov 12: Cristiano
Ronaldo scored as Juventus
bounced back from their midweek
Champions League
defeat by Manchester United
with a 2-0 win over 10-
man AC Milan in Serie A, as
Gonzalo Higuain missed a
penalty before being sent off
for the hosts.
Mario Mandzukic headed
in the opener in the eighth
minute at the San Siro on
Sunday with Ronaldo adding
a second on 81 minutes as Juventus
maintained their sixpoint
cushion ahead of the international
break.
It got the defending seven-time
Serie A champions
back on track after suffering
their first defeat of the season
by United following two
late goals despite Ronaldo’s
stunning volley.
“Winning tonight was the
only way to put aside what
happened in the final five
minutes of the Champions
League game,” said Juve
coach Massimiliano Allegri.
“It was important to win
without conceding a goal and to
regain the six-point advantage
over Napoli who are having an
excellent championship.”
A third loss of the campaign,
however, saw AC Milan
drop out of the Champions
League places behind
Lazio who moved back into
fourth despite a 1-1 draw at
Sassuolo.
Inter Milan’s seven-match
winning streak ended with a
4-1 defeat at Atalanta, with
Luciano Spalletti’s side losing
second place to Napoli
who came from behind to
beat Genoa 2-1 on Saturday.
Juventus have 34 points
from 12 games – six ahead of
Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli with
Inter a further three behind.
“I’m very happy, especially
for the team, because playing
away to Milan is always
very difficult,” said Ronaldo.
“It was important to win,
because Napoli beat Genoa
last night and we had to keep
our distance.”
Allegri’s side rarely
looked threatened by AC
Milan with Mandzukic rising
highest to nod in an Alex Sandro
cross to dampen spirits
among the 75,000-capacity
crowd at the San Siro.
The Croatian World Cup
runner-up could have made
it two shortly after, meeting
a cross this time from Ronaldo
but Milan skipper Alessio
Romagnoli blocked. – AFP
Post a Comment