Cristiano Ronaldo decided his first Derby della Mole from the penalty spot as Juventus narrowly beat local rivals Torino 1-0 to remain unbeaten in Serie A. The Granata had a penalty appeal of their own turned away before the champions were awarded one and Ronaldo converted to settle the game.

Juventus came into the Turin Derby having only dropped two points in Serie A all season but they suffered a rare and rather humiliating defeat at Young Boys in the Champions League in midweek. They were looking to quickly erase the memory of that and Ronaldo almost scored an early volley but was denied by a terrific save from Salvatore Sirigu.

That save was one of Sirigu's last actions of the game as he was forced off injured and replaced by Salvador Ichazo but it was the goalkeeper at the other end who was called into the most pressing action in the remainder of the half. Mattia Perin did well to keep out Andrea Belotti's back-post header and even better to flap the ball away from Armando Izzo on the follow-up.

There were some big talking points in the second half and one of them came when the hosts felt they should have been awarded a penalty as Alex Sandro appeared to haul down Simone Zaza. The striker protested vociferously but VAR wasn't consulted.

Zaza was perhaps unlucky not to have been awarded a spot-kick at one end but it was his dreadful error which led to one being given at the other end. The striker's back-pass was terribly short and Mario Mandzukic pounced on it, with Ichazo tripping the striker. Ronaldo took the resultant penalty and just about squeezed it past the goalkeeper.

There was little in the way of a response from Torino in the closing stages as the champions used all their experience and nous to see the game out.

Torino were left feeling aggrieved that they were not awarded a penalty of their own and VAR wasn't used to check the decision. They still can only have themselves to blame for the one they conceded and it's yet more misery in this fixture for the Granata. Juventus were the stronger side overall, even if it wasn't their best performance. They'll be glad to have put their midweek defeat behind them quickly.