Cristiano Ronaldo continued his hot streak as his towering header gave Juventus a 2-1 win at Parma to put Juventus top of the table as Gianluigi Buffon equalled Paolo Maldini’s Serie A appearance record.

Ronaldo met Alex Sandro’s looping cross with an incredible leap and header just before half-time to put Juve on 42 points, three ahead of Inter ahead of their match with struggling Genoa on Saturday.

“I’m really happy with the result... It was a really good goal also because it was the one that won the three points,” said Ronaldo, who earlier in the season was off-form amid injury concerns.

“Like I said before I’d had pain in my knee for around a month, but now I’m OK and now I want to help Juventus win trophies.”

His 10th league goal of the season came after Samp’s Gianluca Caprari had levelled Paulo Dybala’s superb volleyed opener.

The Argentine met Alex Sandro’s raking cross in the 19th minute with the most delicate of volleys, caressing the ball past Emil Audero from the edge of the box.

Maurizio Sarri’s side earlier failed to capitalise on their possession and were punished by Gianluca Caprari 10 minutes before the break, the Italian pouncing after Sandro was caught on the ball to crash his finish past Buffon.

However, Ronaldo put the away side back in front in the final minute of the half with his sixth goal in five matches in all competitions, a hanging header from another pinpoint Sandro cross.

With this loss, Claudio Ranieri’s side now sit just two points above the relegation zone.

The win, gained early in the week ahead of Sunday’s Italian Super Cup clash with Lazio in Riyadh, was a further source of happiness for Buffon, who made his 647th Serie A appearance in place of the injured Wojciech Szczesny.

The 41-year-old also became Juve’s all-time record appearance maker on 479 matches, one ahead of Alessandro Del Piero.

Agence France-Presse


Italian League results on Wednesday:
Sampdoria 1 (Caprari 35) Juventus 2 (Dybala 19, Ronaldo 45); Brescia 0 Sassuolo 2 (Traore 25, Caputo 71)