Cristiano Ronaldo on Sunday scored twice as champions Juventus bounced back from their first Serie A defeat of the season by beating Udinese 4-1 to move up to fifth place.
The Milan clubs are top of the league, with Juventus 10 points adrift of the summit having played a game less.
Leaders AC Milan stayed one point ahead of Inter with a 2-0 win over Benevento, despite playing for an hour with 10 men.
Photo: AFP
City rivals Inter earlier crushed lowly Crotone 6-2, with Lautaro Martinez bagging his first hat-trick for the club, but Milan restored their advantage thanks to a Franck Kessie penalty on 15 minutes and Rafael Leao’s terrific curling strike from a tight angle shortly after halftime.
Sandro Tonali’s sending off after 33 minutes for a high tackle on Artur Ionita did not hold back Stefano Pioli’s side.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was solid in the Milan goal, while Gianluca Caprari dragged a penalty wide on the hour.
“We don’t let ourselves be put under pressure by the results of the opponents,” said Pioli, whose side are unbeaten in 27 league games going back to March last year. “We’re ambitious, we’re not hiding it, and we aim to win the next match as well against Juventus [tomorrow].”
Ronaldo once again proved decisive for Juventus, scoring a goal in each half to bring his league-leading tally to 14, and teeing up Federico Chiesa after halftime.
Paulo Dybala added the fourth deep in stoppage-time as Andrea Pirlo’s side moved on from their shock 3-0 loss to ACF Fiorentina.
“It wasn’t the best Juventus, because we were coming off a bad defeat, we were a bit fearful at the beginning,” Pirlo said. “Slowly we grew and in the second half we did better. It’s a delicate moment, but we have to have confidence in what we can achieve and the determination to get there.”
At the San Siro, Martinez and Romelu Lukaku combined to devastating effect for Inter, who have won eight consecutive league games.
The strike duo were involved in five goals, although midfielder Arturo Vidal was hauled off at halftime after conceding a penalty in a woeful display.
Antonio Conte’s side had been pegged back 2-2 at halftime, with Niccolo Zanellato scoring first with a 12th-minute header for the side with the worst attack in the league.
However, Martinez picked up a Lukaku cross to pull the hosts level eight minutes later.
Martinez had a role in Inter’s second just after half an hour when Crotone defender Luca Marrone turned the ball into his own net under pressure from the forward.
Vladimir Golemic put the sides level six minutes later after Vidal fouled Arkadiusz Reca, with a furious Conte replacing the Chilean with Stefano Sensi at halftime.
Martinez restored the lead for Inter before the hour, connecting with a Marcelo Brozovic through-ball following a Lukaku back-heel, and headed in his third with 12 minutes to go.
Lukaku blasted in his 50th goal for Inter after 64 minutes, but limped off after taking a knock to his thigh 10 minutes later, before Achraf Hakimi rounded out the win with three minutes to go.
“There is great desire and it shows,” Conte said as Inter target their first Serie A title since 2009-2010.
AS Roma remained in third place, six points behind Inter, with captain Edin Dzeko scoring with a quarter of an hour to go in a 1-0 win in the rain over Claudio Ranieri’s UC Sampdoria.
The capital side are ahead of SSC Napoli, who swept past Cagliari 4-1, with Piotr Zielinski scoring twice, and Hirving Lozano and Lorenzo Insigne also on target, the latter from the penalty spot.
In a clash of European rivals, Atalanta BC spanked US Sassuolo 5-1, with Duvan Zapata scoring twice.
The Bergamo side were again playing without captain Papu Gomez, who has fallen out with coach Gian Piero Gasperini.
Zapata and Matteo Pessina scored in the first half, with Zapata adding a second just after halftime.
Robin Gosens and Luis Muriel extended the rout, before Vlad Chiriches pulled a goal back.
Elsewhere, Torino moved out of the relegation zone with a 3-0 victory at Parma, Hellas Verona won 1-0 at Spezia, Genoa held SS Lazio to a 1-1 draw and Fiorentina were held to a goalless draw by Bologna.
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