Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed a brace to help Juventus seal a 2-1 comeback win over Inter Milan in a feisty Coppa Italia semi-final first-leg clash at San Siro on Tuesday.
Lautaro Martinez led the way, sending the home side in front with an early lead but Ronaldo replied from the penalty spot to level before pouncing on a defensive mix-up to put the Turin club in front before half-time.
Inter were without suspended top scorer Romelu Lukaku and while they pushed for an equaliser, they could not find a way past 43-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who produced a superb save to deny Matteo Darmian on the 1,100th senior appearance of his career for club and country.
Andrea Pirlo’s side earned revenge for their 2-0 Serie A defeat in this fixture, known as the ‘Derby of Italy’, last month.
However, they host the second leg in Turin on 9 February and the winner will face Napoli or Atalanta in the final.
Antonio Conte‘s side suffered a few absentees as influential wing-back Achraf Hakimi as well as Lukaku missed the tie, but Martinez gave the hosts the perfect start by squeezing a finish past Buffon after nine minutes.
However, Ashley Young cost his side a penalty for a tug on Juan Cuadrado with a VAR review calling a spot kick, which Ronaldo smashed into the roof of the net with 26 minutes on the clock.
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The striker then grabbed the winner for Juventus after pouncing on some indecisiveness between defender Samir Handanovic and Alessandro Bastoni on the edge of the box, pinching the ball and finishing into an unguarded net in the 35th minute of the match.
Inter pushed forward after the break, but they were denied by heroic last-ditch defending as Alexis Sanchez’s shot was cleared off the line by Merih Demiral, before Buffon showed sharp reflexes to save Darmian’s effort to preserve Juve’s advantage.
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