Juventus have extended their lead in Serie A on Saturday by defeating basement club SPAL 2-1. Cristiano Ronaldo was in action and scored in the 39th minute after having an early goal ruled offside. His later goal will make it a record-equaling 11th consecutive Serie A games. It also happened to be his 1,000th professional match. The record-equaling makes the 35-year-old hold the same mark held by Gabriel Batistuta and Fabio Quagliarella.
After Saturday’s match, the Portuguese forward reached the record-equalling with Sampdoria forward Quagliarella, who reached the mark back in January 2019. Before both players were able to reach the equaled mark it was previously achieved by Batistuta in 1994-1995 for Fiorentina. Both Italian Quagliarella and Argentine Batistuta finished the season as top scorers in Serie A with both scoring 26 goals in total.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has been in incredible form this season having scored 25 goals in all competition. Out of 25 goals this season, 16 of those goals are in his current run of 11 consecutive matches. Aaron Ramsey found the back of the net in the 60th-minute taking Juve lead to 2-0 before Andrea Petagna scored a penalty in the 69th minute.
The penalty, however, wasn’t enough, as Juventus were back to winning ways away from home. This comes after Juventus suffered defeat away in the hands of Napoli and Hellas Verona. Juventus would hope to continue their winning streak away from home when they face French club Lyon in the Champions League last 16, first leg next week.
Ronaldo has impressively found the back of the net 21 times in Serie A this season, with five goals behind leading scorer Ciro Immobile. Thanks to a goal by Ronaldo and Ramsey, Juve defeated SPAL in an away match, something they have failed to do away from home in the previous two seasons. Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini also started for the first time since his long spell on the sidelines due to a cruciate ligament knee injury last August, playing for 55 minutes in Ferrara.
Maurizio Sarri’s side has a four-point lead against Lazio who will travel to Genoa on Sunday. Inter Milan are six points behind Juve and will face off with Sampdoria at the San Siro.
