Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo scores their third goal from the penalty spot. (Reuters) Cristiano Ronaldo converted two late penalties on his 100th appearance for Juventus in all competitions as the Serie A titleholders ground out a 3-1 win away to a dogged Genoa side on Sunday.
Ronaldo, who also converted two penalties in the 3-0 win at Barcelona on Tuesday, struck in the 78th and 89th minutes, taking his tally to 10 in the league this season — as many as the entire Genoa team — and 14 all competitions.
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ appearances for Juventus
7️⃣9️⃣ Goals
1️⃣9️⃣ AssistsCristiano Ronaldo is 35-years-old and still going strong 🤯👏 pic.twitter.com/6iug2n4aqY
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 13, 2020
Juve, chasing a 10th successive Serie A title, are fourth with 23 points from 11 games and are still unbeaten, although they have drawn five times. Genoa, who narrowly escaped the drop last season, are one off the bottom with six points.
Juve had 71% of possession but, not for the first time, Andrea Pirlo’s team struggled to open up stubborn opponents from the wrong end of the table.
It took them 57 minutes to break through when Weston McKennie flicked the ball to Paulo Dybala and the Argentine beat Mattia Perin with a shot inside the near post for his first league goal of the season.
Genoa replied out of the blue four minutes later, Stefano Sturaro sidefooting past Wojciech Szczesny from Luca Pellegrini’s cross to score against his old club.
Dybala had a goal disallowed for offside and Ronaldo sent a free header straight at Perin before Juventus eventually wore Genoa down.
With 12 minutes left, Juan Cuadrado was sent sprawling by a clumsy Nicolo Rovella tackle and Ronaldo fired his spot kick into the middle of the goal.
Perin then upended Alvaro Morata after Genoa gave the ball away in defence and Ronaldo duly blasted the ball into the roof of the net.
AC Milan fight back to draw 2-2 at home to Parma
Serie A leaders AC Milan maintained their unbeaten league record in dramatic fashion on Sunday when Theo Hernandez scored twice, including an injury-time equaliser, as they fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Parma.
1 – After Atletico Madrid defeat on Saturday, AC Milan are the only side unbeaten in the Top-5 European Leagues after the first lockdown (March-April). Heart.#MilanParma pic.twitter.com/zmKuEt9kz2
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) December 13, 2020
Milan, again missing talismanic forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic through injury, hit the woodwork four times and also saw a first-half goal disallowed while Parma scored from two of their three shots on target.
Milan, who have gone 23 Serie A games unbeaten since losing to Genoa in March, stayed top with 27 points from 11 matches, but saw their lead cut after the five teams behind them all won.
Inter Milan are second with 24, followed by Napoli and Juventus (23), Sassuolo (22) and AS Roma (21).
Parma, who have 11 points, stunned the hosts by taking the lead after 13 minutes, with Hernani scoring after Gervinho burst down the left and pulled the ball back.
Parma doubled their lead in the 56th minute when Hernani found an unmarked Jasmin Kurtic, who steered the ball home. Hernandez almost immediately pulled one back for Milan, heading in from a corner.
The French left back completed the fightback in the 91st minute, firing the ball into the net from a rebound after keeper Luigi Sepe blocked Ante Rebic’s shot.
