Ageless Alessandro Del Piero strikes as Juventus sink Internazionale

Gianluigi Buffon produced an inspired display in goal and 37-year-old Alessandro Del Piero scored his first Serie A goal of the season as Juventus beat Internazionale 2-0 on Sunday to maintain their Serie A title challenge.

Del Piero has been used sparingly by the coach, Antonio Conte, recently but he came off the bench to slot home the second goal from Arturo Vidal's incisive pass after Martín Cáceres had given them the lead just before the hour.

It was his second goal in five days after he scored in their Italian Cup semi-final against Milan when a 2-2 draw sent Juventus to the final 4-3 on aggregate.

Inter, now almost certain to miss out on the Champions League, had the better of the first half but were foiled by world-class goalkeeping from Buffon.

Claudio Ranieri's team are ninth in the table with 41 points, 10 adrift of third-placed Lazio in the Champions League play-off spot.

Juventus, still unbeaten in all competitions this season, have 59 points from 29 games, four behind the leaders Milan, who saw off Roma 2-1 on Saturday. "Del Piero deserves everything. He has shown himself to be an outstanding professional. He has accepted this [substitute] role without causing a controversy and now he is being repaid," Buffon said.

"It's a bitter defeat because it was a good, lively game against a Juventus side who deserve to be where they are," said the Inter coach, Claudio Ranieri. "I'm very satisfied with the first hour of the game and extremely disappointed with the way we conceded the goal."

（一个慢牛）