Juventus Beat Milan With Last-Minute Penalty In Serie A (Read)

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Juventus Beat Milan With Last-Minute Penalty In Serie A (Read)

Paulo Dybala stepped up to secure a last-minute win for Juventus against Milan from the penalty spot and extend their lead at the top of Serie A to 11 points.

Milan came within seconds of ending Juventus’ 17-month run of home league wins before a hugely controversial penalty gave the league leaders victory in Turin.

The penalty was awarded for handball by Mattia De Sciglio although Stephan Lichtsteiner’s cross hit him at point-blank range and it appeared to strike his stomach rather than his hand.

After a long consultation between the referee and the goal-line assistant, and amid furious Milan protests, Dybala converted the spot-kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time to give Juventus their 31st home league win in a row.

“I was already in the tunnel and I preferred not to see the penalty,” the Juventus manager, Massimiliano Allegri, said.

“We were going to either win or draw. Paulo did well, because it’s never easy to put a penalty past [Gianluigi] Donnarumma, especially in the form he was in tonight with some remarkable saves.”

The win left Juventus 11 points clear of Roma who visit Palermo on Sunday. Milan, whose more modest aim is to qualify for the Europa League, are seventh.

The defender Mehdi Benatia gave Juventus the lead on the half-hour from close range but Carlos Bacca levelled two minutes before half-time when he prodded the ball past Gianluigi Buffon from Gerard Deulofeu’s pass.

Juventus dominated the second half but seemed unable to find a way past Gianluigi Donnarumma. The 18-year-old Milan goalkeeper produced a superb double save when he parried Sami Khedira’s shot and then tipped Gonzalo Higuaín’s effort round a post from the rebound.

He made another outstanding save to block a shot by Higuaín in stoppage time but Juventus were awarded the penalty immediately afterwards.

Milan were down to 10 men by that time after José Sosa was sent off for a vicious sliding tackle.