STADIO GIUSEPPE MEAZZA (Milan) – Gonzalo Higuain turned back the clock as he bagged the winner for Juventus as they beat Inter 2-1 at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Sunday evening.
The Argentine broke Nerazzurri hearts in the same fixture in September 2017, with an 89th minute goal then, and needed just 20 minutes after coming off the bench to win the latest Derby d’Italia.
Paulo Dybala opened the scoring after just four minutes, before Lautaro Martinez bagged a penalty to level things up midway through the first half. But the headlines were taken by Higuain who grabbed his second of the season to take Juventus top of Serie A.
Juventus are now the only unbeaten team in Italy’s top division this season, and are one point ahead of Inter, who last won the Derby d’Italia in September 2016 under Frank de Boer.
A frantic opening was given a steroid injection when Miralem Pjanic launched a long ball for Dybala, and the Argentine showed great control before firing across Samir Handanovic into the far right corner.
It could have been two within 10 minutes when Ronaldo cut in from the left, and fired onto the crossbar from 18 yards.
Inter did mange to settle and Romelu Lukaku got one-on-one with Leonardo Bonucci but hit his shot straight at the defender.
A cross was then put into the Juventus penalty area and hit Matthijs De Ligt’s arm, thus referee Gianluca Rocchi pointed to the spot. Lautaro stepped up and beat Wojciech Szczesny.
Chances were coming thick and fast with Lautaro again having a go, but his strike was saved by Szczesny.
Just before the break, Juventus thought they had themselves back in the lead when Ronaldo drove one past Handanovic, but it was ruled out for offside in the build up.
After the break, Federico Bernardeschi had a go from 18 yards, but Handanovic was equal to it, then the Inter goalkeeper had to alert when Dybala was played in on goal.
Juventus pressed into well for the first 20 minutes of the second half, preventing the Nerazzurri from any meaningful attacks, that was until a deflected Matias Vecino shot sailed just wide.
Then with just 10 minutes left to play Higuain was played in by Rodrigo Bentancur and he made no mistake firing past Handanovic.
As expected Inter went looking for another equaliser and Szczesny had to be alert to save Vecino’s strike.
