Second half masterclass gives Juventus Derby d’Italia win over Inter

A sublime second half performance from Juventus saw them ease to a 2-0 win over Inter at the Allianz Stadium in Sunday’s rescheduled Round 26 Derby d’Italia.

The match was played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak in Northern Italy.

Aaron Ramsey opened the scoring not long after half time, for this third of the season, then a magical Paulo Dybala strike doubled Juventus’ lead and put the game beyond Inter.

It also condemned the Nerazzurri to their second consecutive away loss, and leaves them nine points behind Juventus who move a point clear of Lazio atop the Serie A table, though Inter do have a game in hand on the pair.

Samir Handanovic was back in the Inter side for the first time since February 1, and he immediately demonstrated his importance to the team with a delicious save from a Matthijs De Ligt head, then denying Blaise Matuidi not long after.

De Ligt again went close as he got in front of Alessandro Bastoni at a corner but could only put his header just over.

Inter did take a while to go close to testing Wojciech Szczesny as Antonio Candreva’s wicked effort from distance was close to dipping under the crossbar.

Juventus were extremely dangerous from corners and Leonardo Bonucci got himself free in the area, but just as with his defensive partner, he was unable to test Handanovic.

After the break, it was Juventus who took the lead after Matuidi’s pull back to Ronaldo bounced off the Portuguese into the path of Ramsey who smashed in from close range.

From there Juventus found themselves on top and for a period Inter struggled to gain possession from the home side.

Just after the hour mark, Dybala doubled the lead as he played a nice one-two with Ramsey and poked past Handanovic with the outside of his boot.

A great opportunity fell to Christian Eriksen as he collected the ball, unmarked in the box, but slashed over the crossbar, then Daniele Padelli was sent off from the bench.

That was as close as Inter came to getting themselves back into the game, with Juventus showing glimpses of Sarriball seemingly free from the pressure of the demanding Bianconeri fans.

And in the final two minutes of the game Ronaldo went close to the all-time record of scoring in consecutive Serie A matches, but he will have to be content with sharing that accolade off 11 matches in a row with Gabriel Batistuta and Fabio Quagliarella.