SAN FRANCISCO, November 12, (THEWILL) – Cristiano Ronaldo scored as Juventus bounced back from their midweek Champions League defeat by Manchester United with a 2-0 win over 10-man AC Milan in Serie A on Sunday, as Gonzalo Higuain missed a penalty before being sent off for the hosts.
Mario Mandzukic headed in the opener in the eighth minute at the San Siro with Ronaldo adding a second on 81 minutes as Juventus maintained their six-point cushion ahead of the international break.
It got the defending seven-time Serie A champions back on track after suffering their first defeat of the season by United following two late goals despite Ronaldo’s stunning volley.
Juventus have 34 points from 12 games — six ahead of Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli with Inter a further three behind.
“I’m very happy, especially for the team, because playing away to Milan is always very difficult,” said Ronaldo.
“It was important to win, because Napoli beat Genoa last night and we had to keep our distance.”
In England, Manchester City opened up a 12-point gap on Manchester United just 12 games into the Premier League season and returned to the top of the table with a convincing 3-1 win in Sunday’s derby at the Etihad.
Early goals in each half from David Silva and Sergio Aguero put City in command and Ilkay Gundogan condemned United to a fourth league defeat of the season after Anthony Martial’s penalty had given the visitors hope.
Meanwhile, ten man Barcelona were crushed 3-4 Sunday afternoon at the Camp Nou with Real Betis handing them their second La Liga defeat of the season.
Returning star Lionel Messi scored a brace, to record his 14th goal of the season, but his efforts were not enough as the visitors capitalised on Barcelona’s leaking defence to score four times.
It was Barcelona’s first home defeat in more than two years as the last time they lost at home was in September 2016, against Alaves.
Now Betis have ended Barca’s 42 games unbeaten run , with a brilliant, counter-attacking display.
