Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 100th game for Juventus with a pair of penalties in a 3-1 success over Genoa on Sunday, as the champions closed the gap on Serie A leaders Milan who were held at home against Parma.
French defender Theo Hernandez’s brace rescued a point at the death for AC Milan who came from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Parma in the San Siro.
Milan’s lead on second-placed Inter was cut to three points after Antonio Conte’s side staged a 3-1 comeback win at Cagliari.
Napoli, in third, are a further point adrift after beating Sampdoria 2-1, equal on points with nine-time reigning champions Juventus.
Playing without injured top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Milan had looked set for their first league defeat this season.
Hakan Calhanoglu rattled the woodwork three times with Brahim Diaz also hitting the post for the hosts before Hernani put Parma ahead after quarter of an hour in the San Siro.
The Brazilian midfielder then set up Jasmin Kurtic for the second after 56 minutes.
But two minutes later Hernandez headed in off a Calhanoglu corner with the French defender adding a second in injury time.
In Genoa, Paulo Dybala got his first league goal of the season for Juventus in the 57th minute and Ronaldo sealing the points with two late strikes from the spot after Stefano Sturaro had levelled for the hosts after an hour.
The Portuguese forward’s goals have taken him level with Milan star Ibrahimovic as leading scorer in Serie A with 10 goals this season, for a total of 79 since joining Juventus in 2018.
“What better way to celebrate my 100th game for Juventus, than scoring two more goals for the team?” Ronaldo said on Twitter before vowing to reach 100 goals for the reigning champions.
Juventus, 3-0 winners at Barcelona in the Champions League during the week, came out firing with Adrien Rabiot having a goal disallowed after two minutes.
After a frustrating first half Juventus broke through with US midfielder Weston McKennie setting up Dybala for the opener.
Nicolo Rovella’s foul on Juan Cuadrado allowed Ronaldo to slot in his first after 78 minutes with the second coming a minute from time after Perin brought down Alvaro Morata.
“I needed this goal,” said Dybala.
“Last year I had an incredible year, this year I started less well. I was not happy and I felt it more every match. I hope this goal can give me that confidence.”
Genoa sink to second from bottom after their worst ever start to a season with just six points from 11 games.
Napoli honour Maradona
Napoli got their first win in their newly named Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, renamed after the Argentina legend who led the club to their only league titles in 1987 and 1990 and the UEFA Cup in 1989.
Jakub Jankto put Sampdoria ahead in the 20th minute, but Hirving Lozano came off the bench in the second half to spark a Napoli revival.
Lozano got his head to a Dries Mertens cross seven minutes after the break with the Mexican international then crossing for Andrea Petagna to nod in the winner with 22 minutes remaining.
Inter bounced back after their Champions League exit, despite trailing with a quarter of an hour to go in Sardinia.
Former Cagliari player Nicolo Barella volleyed in the equaliser after 77 minutes with Danilo D’Ambrosio coming off the bench to immediately nod in a second with six minutes to go.
Romelu Lukaku added a third deep into injury time, for his ninth league goal this season.
Roma got back to winning ways with an emphatic 5-1 victory at Bologna.
All six goals came in the first half at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
Bologna’s Andrea Poli turned into his own net after five minutes before Edin Dzeko added a second to give the hosts a two-goal advantage after 10 minutes.
Lorenzo Pellegrini, Jordan Veretout and Henrikh Mkhitaryan added three more before the break, with a Bryan Cristante own goal putting Bologna on the scoresheet.
In Bergamo, Atalanta eased past Fiorentina 3-0, with goals from Robin Gosens, Ruslan Malinovskyi and Rafael Toloi.
