Cristiano Ronaldo controversially won and then converted a stoppage-time penalty, seconds after having a goal chalked off for offside, as Juventus beat 10-man Genoa 2-1 and went back to the top of Serie A on Wednesday. Ronaldo went down under a challenge from Antonio Sanabria and, although their was minimal contact if any at all, the referee pointed to the spot and the VAR officials confirmed the decision.
It was rough justice on 17th placed Genoa which played with 10 men from the 51st minute when Francesco Cassata was harshly given a second yellow card for tugging Paulo Dybala’s shirt.
Juventus, still unbeaten in all competitions under coach Maurizio Sarri, has 26 points from 10 games, one ahead of Inter Milan which beat Brescia 2-1 on Tuesday.
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Juventus went ahead in the 35th minute. A corner was swung in from the left and defender Leonardo Bonucci got in front of Genoa goalkeeper Ionut Radu to score with a glancing header at the near post.
Genoa levelled within five minutes after Alex Sandro lost possession on the edge of the area. The ball was passed to Christian Kouame who mis-kicked completely but his shot hit his standing leg and flew past a wrong-footed Gianluigi Buffon.
The game veered in Juve’s favour when Dybala tried to squeeze past two players and Cassata was dismissed after the Argentine tumbled to the ground.
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Juventus had substitute Adrien Raniot sent off for a second bookable offence with three minutes to play but Genoa were still not safe.
Ronaldo turned in Juan Cuadrado’s pass in the third minute of stoppage time but, after Juventus had celebrated the goal, it was disallowed for offside following a VAR check.
But in the next attack, Ronaldo collected a pass inside the area, cut inside Sanabria and fell forwards.
He seemed to try to make contact with Sanabria rather than the other way round but the referee awarded a penalty and the irrepressible Portuguese converted.
The results : Serie A : Napoli 2 (Maksimovic 16, Milik 71) drew with Atalanta 2 (Freuler 41, Ilicic 86); Juventus 2 (Bonucci 36, Ronaldo 90+6-pen) bt Genoa 1 (Kouame 40); Lazio 4 (Acerbi 25, Immobile 33, 70-pen, Belotti 90+1-og) bt Torino 0; Udinese 0 lost to Roma 4 (Zaniolo 13, Smalling 51, Kluivert 54, Kolarov 65-pen).
La Liga : Real Sociedad 1 (Willian Jose 47) lost to Levante 2 (Bardhi 24, Mayoral 40); Valencia 1 (Sobrino 81) drew with Sevilla 1 (Ocampos 45+3); Real Madrid 5 (Rodrygo 7, Kroos 8, Ramos 24-pen, Benzema 69-pen, Jovic 90+1) bt Leganes 0 .