I hit it as hard as I could - Bonucci describes Derby d'Italia volley

Leonardo Bonucci described his technique in scoring a Derby d'Italia goal for Juventus against Inter, insisting he just hit the ball as hard as he could.

Bonucci put Juve into the lead shortly after half-time, smashing a volley past Samir Handanovic from four yards after a poor defensive header by Danilo D'Ambrosio.

Alvaro Morata then sealed a 16th win in 17 Serie A matches by converting a late penalty he won himself after being fouled by Miranda, moving the hosts four points clear of Napoli at the top of Serie A.

But modest Bonucci insisted he was "fortunate" his strike went in.

"When I saw the ball come towards me, I tried to hit it as powerfully as possible," the centre-back told Mediaset Premium 

"I was fortunate to keep it down and not hit Samir Handanovic.

"We simply had to win, regardless of the fact we were facing Inter.

"Two draws in a row were too many, we had to get back to winning ways."

Juve drew their previous Serie A game 0-0 at Bologna and battled back from 2-0 down against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Massimiliano Allegri's men face Inter again on Wednesday in the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final, with Juve taking a 3-0 lead to San Siro.

Bonucci added: "Now we just have to keep marching forward and our heads are already on Wednesday because, despite winning the first leg 3-0, Inter will get off to a strong start.

"We, however, will start even stronger.

"Did we put pressure on Napoli? No, we are the leaders, so we are only interested in our results."