Inter 1 Juventus 1: Ronaldo hits 600th club goal

Posted Sunday, April 28, 2019 by

Juventus fell behind to a long-range strike from Radja Nainggolan but Cristiano Ronaldo's 600th career club goal earned them a 1-1 draw.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 600th career club goal to earn Serie A champions Juventus a 1-1 draw in their Derby d'Italia clash with Inter at San Siro on Saturday.

The Portuguese superstar hit the milestone in the 62nd minute, rescuing his side after they fell behind to Radja Nainggolan's stunning early strike.

Wojciech Szczesny could perhaps have done more to keep out Nainggolan's first-half effort, which put Inter on course for a win that would have boosted their top-three hopes.

But Ronaldo struck to ensure Juve, who celebrated an eighth successive Scudetto last week with a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina, dodged just a third league defeat of the campaign.

Juve were rattled by Inter's fast start to the match, falling behind inside seven minutes when Nainggolan thumped a scooped pass from Matteo Politano into the back of the net from 25 yards.

Szczesny failed to keep out the strike despite getting an arm to it, but he responded well by denying Mauro Icardi and Stefan de Vrij in the space of 20 seconds, the latter wasting a free header from six yards out.

Juve, whose only on target shot in the first half came from a Leonardo Bonucci drive in the opening minute, would have been further behind at the break had Blaise Matuidi not made a vital block to prevent Icardi firing home.

The visitors hit back just after the hour mark as Ronaldo picked out the bottom-right corner with a crisp drive after being teed up by a Miralem Pjanic backheel.

Ivan Perisic and substitute Joao Mario had shots saved in the final 10 minutes but neither team - Pjanic was kept out for Juve beforehand - found a way through in an end-to-end conclusion to the match.