Juventus 3-0 Spezia: Cristiano Ronaldo hits 20th Serie A goal of the season in convincing win as Federico Chiesa and Alvaro Morata also strike to close gap on Milan rivals and keep slim title hopes alive
- Juventus pulled off a dominant victory over 15th placed Spezia on Tuesday
- Cristiano Ronaldo hit the 20-goal landmark in Serie A this season
- The former Real Madrid man tops the scoring charts and is two ahead of Lukaku
- Federico Chiesa and Alvaro Morata also scored to keep Juve's title hopes alive
Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 600th league appearance with his 20th Serie A goal of the season as Juventus beat Spezia 3-0 on Tuesday 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, has become the first player to score at least 20 goals in each of the last 12 seasons in Europe's top five leagues.
Cristiano Ronaldo wrapped up the 3-0 victory for Juventus over Spezia on Tuesday night
Juventus star Ronaldo netted his 20th goal of the season in his 600th league appearance
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.'
Federico Chiesa put the game beyond reach for Spezia after netting Juve's second
Alvaro Morata put the Italian giants ahead in the 62nd minute after a tight opening hour
Pirlo's Juve side slipped up with a draw at mid-table Hellas Verona on Saturday and knew they could not afford any more mistakes having fallen 10 points behind league leaders Inter.
But they lost defender Matthijs De Ligt to injury in the warm-up and struggled in the opening period, coming closest when Ronaldo dribbled into the box and curled a shot off the foot of the post.
The double introduction of Morata and Federico Bernardeschi with half an hour remaining proved decisive, as the winger teed up the Spanish striker to score his first league goal since December within 60 seconds of coming on.
'Morata is a fundamental player for us; he has a lot of quality, knows how to work with the team, how to attack the space and score goals,' Pirlo said.
Wojciech Szczesny saved Andrey Galabinov's penalty with the final kick of the game
'He's the player that we wanted. Unfortunately he has been missing lately but now we hope he can get back to his best quickly.'
Bernardeschi was involved again as he found Chiesa in the box for Juve's second goal, with the latter scoring on the rebound after his initial effort was parried by Ivan Provedel.
Ronaldo then broke up-field and scored with a composed finish in the 89th minute to seal the win, although Spezia squandered the chance for a consolation goal when Wojciech Szczesny saved Andrey Galabinov's penalty with the final kick of the game.
Andrea Pirlo's men sit seven points behind Serie A leaders Inter Milan with 14 matches left
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