Ronaldo nets 2 as Juve beats Inter in cup semifinal 1st leg

Published Feb. 2, 2021 4:55 p.m. ET

Associated Press

MILAN (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to help Juventus fight back to win 2-1 at Inter Milan in the first leg of their Italian Cup semifinal on Tuesday.

Ronaldo netted a penalty and took advantage of a horrendous defensive error to give his side the advantage ahead of the second leg.

Lautaro Martínez had given Inter an early lead.

Napoli hosts Atalanta in the other semifinal on Wednesday, with the return legs scheduled for next week. The final is on May 19.

Inter was without key forward Romelu Lukaku for the first leg. He was suspended for accumulated cards following his spat with Zlatan Ibrahimović in last week’s quarterfinal win over AC Milan.

Inter had beaten Juventus 2-0 two weeks ago in Serie A and coach Antonio Conte was looking to maintain supremacy over his former club.

That seemed to be going to plan when Martínez slotted Nicolò Barella’s cross under Gianluigi Buffon in the ninth minute.

But Juventus was awarded a penalty when Ashley Young appeared to haul back Juan Cuadrado, and Ronaldo struck the spot kick into the roof of the net to level in the 26th.

Juventus completed the comeback nine minutes later. Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni and Samir Handanović got into a mixup after the goalkeeper had rushed off his line, and Ronaldo pounced to race behind them and deposit into an empty net, off the base of the far post.

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