Cristiano Ronaldo scores twice as Juventus stay top

TURIN: Cristiano Ronaldo converted two penalties as he scored for the ninth Serie A game in a row on Sunday to give Juventus a somewhat flattering 3-0 win over Fiorentina which kept them top of Serie A.

The Portuguese squeezed his shot under Bartlomiej Dragowski in the 40th minute and sent the Fiorentina goalkeeper the wrong way late in the second half to take his tally for the season to 19 after Fiorentina held their own for much of the game.

Defender Matthijs De Ligt headed the third in stoppage time to add to the sense of injustice.

The award of the second penalty, after Rodrigo Bentancur went down under a challenge from Federico Ceccherini, was met with angry protests by the visitors.

Juventus, who bounced back from last week's 2-1 defeat by Napoli, have 54 points from 22 games, six ahead of Inter Milan who are away to Udinese later on Sunday.

It was Fiorentina's first league defeat in five matches since Giuseppe Iachini replaced Vincenzo Montella as a coach. Agencies

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