Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace, the second goal a contentious penalty, to give Juventus a dramatic 2-1 win over Sampdoria who had a stoppage-time equaliser chalked off following a long VAR review in Serie A on Saturday.

Riccardo Saponara thought he had given Sampdoria a point when he curled a delightful shot past Mattia Perin and was booked for throwing off his shirt as he celebrated. But, after a delay of nearly three minutes, referee Paolo Valeri ruled that there had been an offside in the buildup.

It was one of three VAR decisions in a game which also saw Sampdoria’s 35-year-old forward Fabio Quagliarella score for the ninth Serie A game in a row, making him the first player to do so since David Trezeguet in 2005.

Leaders Juve reached the season’s halfway mark with 53 points out of a possible 57, a Serie A record for a 20-team championship. Sampdoria coach Marco Giampaolo described Juve’s penalty, awarded for handball by Alex Ferrari, as absurd. “The penalty given to Juventus was a present,” he said. “We can talk about this until the day after tomorrow but you can’t give a penalty like that, otherwise every Sunday will turn into a mess; that handball decision was absurd.”