Cristiano Ronaldo nets late penalty, leads Juventus over Lazio

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Cristiano Ronaldo's 88th minute penalty kick proved to be the decider in Juventus' 2-1 victory against Lazio in Serie A.

The score came after Senad Lulic took down Juventus' Joao Cancelo in the box on Sunday at Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Ronaldo calmly stepped up to the penalty mark and blasted a shot into the upper corner of the left side of the net.

The Italian sides played a scoreless first half before Emre Can helped out Lazio with an own goal in the 59th minute. The midfielder accidentally headed a corner kick into his own net during the sequence.

Cancelo added Juventus' first tally. He ripped a shot into the far post after a deflection in the 74th minute for the equalizer.

Ronaldo struck 14 minutes later to secure the victory.

"For the first 60 minutes we were unwatchable and we deserved to be losing," Juventus keeper Wojciech Szczesny told Juventus.com. "Our character was in question but then we showed our mettle, anaging to win without playing well."

Juventus battles Atalanta in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals at 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday at Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in Bergamo, Italy.

"We misplaced a lot of passes but it's my fault," Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri said. "I tried playing Emre Can in front of the defense but at the moment he's not fully adjusted to match tempo and movement, so I put him in a difficult situation.

"In the second half I moved [Rodrigo] Bentancur and we switched to a two-man midfield base; from that moment Emre started playing well. Until the 60th minute, we lost possession too much, let them counter and Ciro Immobile nearly made it 2-0. For the last 30 minutes, we did better and managed to win a difficult game, but it's never been easy to beat Lazio here in Rome."