Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 1000th senior appearance by scoring his 725th career goal as Juventus narrowly beat bottom-of-the-table SPAL 2-1 to stay top of Serie A.
The Portuguese opened the scoring in the 39th minute, latching on to a cross from Juan Cuadrado.
Aaron Ramsey doubled the advantage on the hour mark with his third goal of the season but Juve endured a nervy ending as SPAL pulled a goal back with a VAR-awarded penalty.
The Portuguese, rested against Brescia last week, turned in Juan Cuadrado’s cross in the 39th minute to break the deadlock before Ramsey added a second on the hour from Paulo Dybala’s pass.
There was confusion in the 69th minute as Andrea Petagna pulled one back from a penalty awarded for a foul by Daniele Rugani on Simone Missiroli amid problems with the VAR system.
The referee, who initially waved played on, had to use a walkie-talkie to communicate with VAR officials as his ear-piece appeared to be broken and the pitch side monitor was also not working.
He eventually pointed to the spot on the advice of video officials.
The win ensured that Juventus, chasing a ninth successive title, stayed top for another week as they went four points clear of Lazio who visit Genoa on Sunday.
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