Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo gave Juventus a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan on Tuesday in their first leg of a Coppa Italia semifinal. A tightly contested match between the two Serie A rivals came down to a series of defensive errors on Inter's end.
It was a promising start for the home side as they went up early in the ninth minute with a goal from Lautaro Martinez. The Argentinian striker connected on goal after a quick counter from Inter led by Alexis Sanchez and Nicolo Barella with the conversion from Martinez putting Inter in the drivers' seat early. The lead would only stand for 17 minutes as a poor foul from Ashley Young on Juan Cuadrado gave Juventus a penalty kick. Ronaldo converted for the equalizer in the 26th minute.
Ronaldo would also connect on the game-winner for Juventus which came in the 35th minute after the striker applied pressure and a miscommunication between defender and keeper led to a wide open net for Ronaldo to put Juventus ahead, 2-1.
Despite Juventus being the more in-form of the two sides, the match played out fairly even, with both teams getting opportunities on the ball and nearly splitting possession. Despite spending time in final thirds and getting into dangerous spaces, the two teams exchanged shots into the second half, but nobody found the back of the net.
Highlights
Ronaldo's game winner: Terrible failure to communicate between Bastoni and Handanovic as they fail to recognize pressure from Ronaldo. The Portuguese international forced the turnover and buried a goal into an open net with the keeper out of place for the go ahead goal.
Looking ahead
A second leg awaits the two clubs on Feb. 9 with Juventus leading on aggregate. Inter did well to test Juventus throughout, though they were without their prolific striker Romalu Lukaku due to a suspension. Juventus will play host while Inter try to tighten up the defense in an effort to pull off the upset, while both sides await the result of Napoli and Atalanta.