Inter go top of Serie A as Juve drop points

MILAN: A teenage goalkeeper restricted Juventus to a 2-2 draw at home to Sassuolo on Sunday dropping the eight-time defending champion into second place.

Juventus needed a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty to secure a point against Sassuolo and Inter Milan beat Spal 2-1 a few hours later to move a point above the Bianconeri in the Serie A table.

Sassuolo’s first-choice goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo was recovering from surgery and reserve Andrea Consigli was also injured, so 18-year-old Stefano Turati was handed his debut.

Juventus took the lead in the 20th minute through a long-range Leonardo Bonucci snapshot but it lasted merely for three minutes before Jeremie Boga rushed onto a Francesco Caputo assist and chipped it over Juventus’s veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Caputo got on the scoresheet two minutes into the second half after a series of defensive errors from Juventus.

That appeared to jolt Juventus into action and Turati needed an impressive save to keep out a Ronaldo free kick.

The young goalkeeper was powerless to keep out his penalty in the 69th minute after Filippo Romagna had fouled Paulo Dybala.

Turati did well to withstand the late siege by the Bianconeri.

MARTINEZ BRACE

Later in the day, Lautaro Martinez scored his second brace of the week to send Inter Milan top of the table.

The Argentina forward had scored two in Wednesday’s Champions League victory at Slavia Prague and he added another two in the first half on Sunday.

That took the 22-year-old Martínez’s tally to eight in Serie A this season. Mattia Valoti pulled one back for Spal five minutes after the interval. Napoli was playing Bologna later ahead of Roma’s match at Hellas Verona.

REAL MADRID BEAT ALAVES

MADRID: Withstanding the rain and cold, Real Madrid pulled off a hard-fought victory against Alaves to put pressure on Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league on Saturday.

Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal scored second-half goals as Real Madrid beat its tough Basque Country opponent 2-1 to take the league lead from Barcelona, which visits fifth-placed Atlético Madrid on Sunday.

“We overcame the rain, the cold, the hard fouls,” veteran Real Madrid left back Marcelo said. “It’s in these types of matches that you win the league.”

The result gave Madrid a three-point advantage over Barcelona, who were preparing to face Atletico Madrid away on Sunday night.