Staff Reporter.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Juventus came from behind to win the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final at Inter Milan.
Argentine forward Lautaro Martinez had put Inter in front, steering a shot past Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon on his 1,100th senior appearance.
However, Ashley Young’s foul on Juan Cuadrado allowed Ronaldo to level with a penalty.
The Portuguese forward then capitalised on a defensive mistake for his second.
That rounded off the scoring in a bad-tempered encounter, which saw nine players booked as Andrea Pirlo’s side earned revenge for their 2-0 Serie A defeat against Inter in January.
Ronaldo looked less than happy when manager Andrea Pirlo denied him any potential hat-trick by substituting Juve’s No. 7 on 77 minutes but, speaking after the match, the Bianconeri manager said: “He [Ronaldo] knows he is our point of reference. But even he needs a breather to stay at the top.”
The two sides meet for the second leg at the Allianz Stadium on Feb. 9 with Juve bringing an away lead back to Turin.