Cristiano Ronaldo is turning 35 on Wednesday and he gave himself an early birthday present by converting two penalties to secure a 3-0 win for Juventus against Fiorentina on Sunday and strengthen his team's position at the top of Serie A. Ronaldo crossed a few milestones during his inspired outing at the Allianz Stadium. He completed 50 goals in all competitions for Juve in 70 matches and tied a club record by scoring for a ninth consecutive league match, matching David Trezeguet’s run in 2005. Juventus thus bounced back from the defeat to Napoli to open up a six-point lead at the top of the table ahead of second-placed Inter Milan. Ronaldo scored both his goals from the spot in either half while defender Matthijs de Ligt headed in a third in injury time to secure the result. The Portuguese great now has 19 goals in 19 matches this season, only two less than he scored in the whole of last season. The first penalty was awarded after a shot from Miralem Pjanic hit Fiorentina defender German Pezzella's hand. After the penalty was confirmed by VAR, Ronaldo made no mistake as he fired a low shot inside the left post. The second penalty came 10 minutes before time as Federico Ceccherini brought down Rodrigo Betancur. Ronaldo found the back of the net after Bartlomiej Dragowski went in the wrong direction. It was Fiorentina's first league defeat in five matches since Giuseppe Iachini replaced Vincenzo Montella as manager. After the match, there was some controversy over Juve's penalties with Rocco Commisso, the owner of Fiorentina, expressing his disappointment. “I’ve been here for six months and I’ve never criticised the referees, but I’m now saying that referees cannot decide the games,” Commisso said. “I am disgusted. Maybe the first one was a penalty, but the second one certainly was not. The referees cannot decide the games. They need to let the players do their work on the field. “Juventus pays huge salaries. They don’t need extra help,” he added. “I am disgusted by what I saw today, but also last week with Genoa and then against Inter.” In response, Juventus vice-chairman Pavel Nedved said the complaints were getting tedious. “We are seeing too much of this narrative against Juventus, suggesting that Juventus does not deserve its victories," he said. "We are fed up with this sort of thing. It’s time for people to stop relying on alibis when they play against Juve. We win games because we play well.”
