Ronaldo, Mandzukic on target as Juventus ease past SPAL

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his hot form for Juventus on Saturday as he and Mario Mandzukic scored both goals in the second consecutive game to help the Serie A leaders open up a nine-point lead at the top of the table with a 2-0 win over struggling SPAL.

Ronaldo slotted home Miralem Pjanic's free-kick after 29 minutes in Turin to join Genoa's Krzysztof Piatek at the top of the Serie A scoring charts with nine goals, before Mandzukic sealed the three points on the hour mark in a simple warm up for Tuesday's crucial Champions League visit of Valencia.

The pair also scored both in Juventus' 2-0 win over AC Milan before the international break, and Ronaldo's strike was his seventh in eight games in all competitions for his new club, for a total of 10 goals this season.

"Cristiano does things that catch opponents off guard and that's exactly what we need," said coach Massimiliano Allegri.

"Sometimes we play one pass too many and the moment is lost.

"Cristiano moves and thinks so quickly, he saw Douglas Costa coming out the corner of his eye and pulled the pass back. We need to all improve in that sense, being able to think ahead to the next move."
"We need to improve on the details if we want to avoid being put under pressure." - Inter 'fear nobody' -
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