Cristiano Ronaldo converted two penalties as he scored for the ninth Serie A game in a row to give Juventus a somewhat flattering 3-0 win over Fiorentina on Sunday which kept them top of Serie A.

The Portuguese squeezed his shot under Bartlomiej Dragowski in the 40th minute before sending the Fiorentina goalkeeper the wrong way late in the second half to take his tally for the season to 19, including 14 in the past nine games.

Defender Matthijs de Ligt headed the third goal in stoppage time to add to Fiorentina’s sense of injustice after they held their own for much of the match.

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The award of the second penalty, after Rodrigo Bentancur went down under a challenge from Federico Ceccherini, was met with angry protests by the visitors.

“Ronaldo keeps on scoring, and that is good for his state of mind,” said Juve’s coach, Maurizio Sarri. “He’s in great physical shape and is making the difference. The other forwards also did well and the problem is who to leave out.”

Fiorentina, who suffered their first defeat in five league games under coach Giuseppe Iachini, could easily have scored first as Federico Chiesa forced Wojciech Szczesny to make a fingertip save and Pol Lirola also tested the Juventus ’keeper. Instead, Juventus were awarded the penalty after Miralem Pjanic’s shot hit German Pezzella’s raised hand and, after waiting for the referee to confirm his decision with the pitchside monitor, Ronaldo scored with a low shot to his left. The Portuguese became the second Bianconeri player to score in nine league games in a row after David Trezeguet.

Marco Benassi was close to a Fiorentina equaliser after half-time while Dragowski did superbly to block Gonzalo Higuaín’s close-range effort after a Douglas Costa run. Fiorentina’s resistance ended when Bentancur slalomed his way through the defence and appeared to run into Ceccherini. However, the defender had his arm raised and the referee gave a penalty which he confirmed after a VAR review. Ceccherini was booked for dissent and Ronaldo again scored with a shot to his left while Dragowski this time went the other way.

De Ligt outjumped the Fiorentina defence at a corner for the third and Ceccherini protested again to the referee after the final whistle. “The lads did well, we gave little away against a great team,” said Iachini. “We could have done better with our final pass.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Romelu Lukaku celebrates during his match-winning display against Udinese. Photograph: Franco Debernardi/EPA

Romelu Lukaku scored a quickfire second-half double to give Internazionale a 2-0 win at Udinese, ending their run of three successive 1-1 league draws and keeping them three points behind Serie A leaders Juventus. The Belgian forward, who took his league tally for the season to 16, broke the deadlock in the 64th minute and converted a penalty seven minutes later for new-look Inter, who had been on the back foot for much of the game. Christian Eriksen and Victor Moses made their debut for Inter in the victory.

Ciro Immobile and Felipe Caicedo both scored twice in the first half as a rampant Lazio thrashed Spal 5-1 on Sunday to maintain their Serie A title challenge. Immobile, Serie A’s leading scorer, took his tally to 25 league goals for the season as his side made it 12 wins and three draws in their last 15 league games.

The win left Lazio with 49 points, five behind leaders Juventus with a game in hand.

Atalanta, Serie A’s leading scorers, moved into fourth place, ahead of Roma on goal difference, with a 2-2 draw at home to lowly Genoa while AC Milan were held 1-1 at home by Verona.