Coppa Italia: Cristiano Ronaldo's stoppage time penalty earns Juventus hard-fought draw in semi-final first leg against 10-man AC Milan

Rome: A stoppage-time Cristiano Ronaldo penalty rescued a 1-1 draw for Juventus at 10-man AC Milan on Thursday in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final. [caption id=“attachment_8040121” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Cristiano Ronaldo smashed the spot-kick into the roof of the net to earn Juventus a draw. AP[/caption] Ante Rebic’s volley gave the hosts a deserved lead after 61 minutes, following a string of good saves from veteran Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. But Stefano Pioli’s side were reduced to 10 men for the final 18 minutes when defender Theo Hernandez was shown a second yellow card for a rash challenge on Paulo Dybala. Juventus were awarded a penalty in the dying minutes following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review, which showed that a Ronaldo scissor kick had struck the arm of Milan defender Davide Calabria. The Portuguese forward smashed the spot-kick into the roof of the net to earn his side a draw ahead of the second leg in Turin on 4 March. Napoli defeated Inter Milan 1-0 in the first leg of the other semi-final in Milan on Wednesday.