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Ramsey and Ronaldo earn Juventus win over Verona

football21 September 2019 20:52| © AFP
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Aaron Ramsey's first Juventus goal on his maiden start and Cristiano Ronaldo's spot-kick winner saw the Italian champions seal a comeback 2-1 win over Verona on Saturday.

Welsh international Ramsey pulled Juventus level in the 31st minute in Turin in reply to Miguel Veloso's early Verona goal, with a well-taken Ronaldo penalty ensuring all three points for the hosts just after the break.

It got Maurizio Sarri's side back winning after last weekend's Serie A stalemate at Fiorentina and a 2-2 Champions League draw at Atletico Madrid midweek.

Sarri's side move one point ahead of Inter Milan at the top of the table before Antonio Conte's side play city rivals AC Milan later on Saturday.

Italian goalkeeping legend Gianluigi Buffon returned to the Juventus goal after spending a season in Paris Saint-Germain to match Paolo Maldini's Italian record of 902 club matches.

Buffon's appearances have been spread across three clubs – Parma, Juventus and PSG – with Maldini having spent his entire career with Serie A rivals Milan.

But the 41-year-old – who played his last game for Juventus also against Verona here in May 2018 – could not keep a clean sheat and was beaten by Veloso after 21 minutes.

Amid confusion in front of the Juve goal after Simone Di Carmine missed a Verona penalty, and Darko Lazovic's rebound rattled the bar, Veloso pounced to rifle a long-range strike past Buffon.

But Ramsey got the champions back on level terms 10 minutes later on his full debut after coming on late against Atletico, with a deflected effort past Verona goalkeeper Marco Silvestri.

Ronaldo put Juventus ahead from the spot with just his second goal this season three minutes after the restart, having missed two chances before the break.

Verona kept pushing with Buffon denying Mattia Zaccagni and Lazovic on front of goal after 89 minutes and Veloso denied a brace by the post, but Juve held on to take the three points.

Carlo Ancelotti's Napoli travel south to promoted Lecce on Sunday after seeing off European champions Liverpool 2-0 on Tuesday.

INTER MAINTAIN PERFECT START IN DERBY

Serie A leaders Inter Milan defeated city rivals AC Milan 2-0 at the San Siro stadium to maintain their 100% start to the campaign.

Inter, who are now unbeaten in the last seven league clashes with Milan, grabbed the lead thanks to a deflected strike from Marcelo Brozovic in the 49th minute.

Romelu Lukaku made sure of the win with a 78th-minute glancing header from a Nicolo Barella cross from the left for his third goal since his move from Manchester United.

Inter, who went close to a third when Matteo Poltano clipped the bar and then Andrea Candreva hit the post, have 12 points from four games, two more than defending champions Juventus.

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