Juventus stay in title race with win over Spezia

Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 600th league appearance with his 20th Serie A goal of the season as Juventus beat Spezia 3-0 to move within three points of second-placed AC Milan.

The Portuguese guided in his side’s third goal late on after Alvaro Morata and Federico Chiesa had struck earlier in the second half to put Andrea Pirlo’s side in a commanding position.

Ronaldo, who also hit the post with an effort in the first half, becomes the first player to score at least 20 goals in each of the last 12 seasons in Europe’s top five leagues.

The win leaves Juve third with 49 points from 24 games behind Milan on 52 and leaders Inter with 56, both of whom are in action this week against Udinese and Parma respectively.

The gap still leaves Juventus with work to do in their quest for a 10th consecutive league title.

“If we don’t win it at the end of the season we will congratulate the winners, but we must die on the pitch first, until we’re told that there are no more points left to play for” Morata told Sky Italia.

“That’s what we must do, as long as we have a mathematical chance, we will fight until the end.”

Elsewhere, Lazio’s match against Torino descended into farce as the capital club named a team and turned up at the Stadio Olimpico despite their opponents being stuck in quarantine more than 600km away in Turin following a COVID-19 outbreak.

In a bizarre repeat of Juventus’ abandoned clash with Napoli earlier this season, contradictory instructions from a local health authority and the league body resulted in Lazio turning up for the scheduled kickoff and waiting 45 minutes before the game was officially abandoned.

Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi named a team for the game, but his players were left to amuse themselves as some danced on the touchline and others messed around with unused pitchside camera equipment as they awaited the inevitable cancellation.

“I could say a lot of things but I’ll keep them to myself. We’ve respected the rules by coming to the stadium,” Lazio sporting director Igli Tare told Sky Italia. (Reuters)