Rome:Gianluigi Buffon marked his milestone by helping Juventus claim the highly-anticipated Derby della Mole with a 4-1 home victory while Lazio’s Scudetto hopes were all but ruined after a lopsided 3-0 defeat to AC Milan.
Buffon, who just renewed his contract with Juventus to 2021, entered the Allianz Stadium with 647 appearances in the Serie A, sharing the top spot with Paolo Maldini on the all-time tally. After starting in Saturday’s game, the 42-year-old legend now holds the record alone.
It took the home side just two minutes on Saturday to break the deadlock. Paulo Dybala found the net with a low strike after a mazy run in the box, his fifth consecutive game on the scoresheet. Juventus continued the pressure and extended the lead in the 28th minute through a rapid counter-attack when Cristiano Ronaldo surged forward, drawing the defenders and then threading through for Juan Cuadrado to finish with an angled drive.Torino pulled one goal back on the stroke of the half-time, when Andrea Belotti beat Buffon from the penalty spot. Juventus restored a two-goal margin with a stunner from Ronaldo on the hour mark as the talisman finally broke the curse to convert a free kick for the first time since joining the Old Lady in 2018. It is also his 25th goal of the Serie A season, the first Juve player to achieve this feat since 1961. The Bianconeri added the fourth before the whistle thanks to an own goal from Koffi Djidji as he accidentally prodded Douglas Costa’s floated pass into his own net.Second-placed Lazio failed to keep the pressure on Juventus as they were crushed 3-0 by AC Milan at Olimpico Stadium. The Rossoneri scored the opener in the 23rd minute with a stroke of luck as a long attempt from Hakan Calhanoglu took a deflection off the defender to loop over helpless goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha.
The away side extended the lead in the 34th minute as Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted a spot-kick, three minutes after his tap-in was flagged offside.Manuel Lazzari scored a goal for the Aquile seven minutes after the restart but was also caught offside in the build-up.AC Milan sealed the win in the 59th minute when Giacomo Bonaventura’s smart pass found Ante Rebic, who placed a daisy-cutter into the net.
The defeat for Lazio, coupled with Juventus’ victory, made the race for the Serie A title seem a foregone conclusion as the defending champions have established a seven-point lead over the Biancocelesti.
In another fixture on Saturday, Sassuolo earned their second consecutive win in an entertaining 4-2 home victory over Lecce.
Nicknamed Vecchia Signora (“the Old Lady”), the club has won 35 official league titles, 13 Coppa Italia titles and eight Supercoppa Italiana titles, being the record holder for all these competitions; two Intercontinental Cups, two European Cups / UEFA Champions Leagues, one European Cup Winners’ Cup, a joint national record of three UEFA Cups, two UEFA Super Cups and a joint national record of one UEFA Intertoto Cup (PTI)
