'He was in the air for an hour and a half!' Cristiano Ronaldo's gravity-defying header puts Juventus top of Serie A (VIDEO)

Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo produced his latest highlight-reel moment for his club as his towering header helped fire the Turin club to the top of Serie A on Wednesday night.

Paulo Dybala's volley put the Serie A champions ahead at Sampdoria, but Gianluca Caprari equalized for the hosts.

Juve needed a hero, and Ronaldo stood tall, quite literally, as he leapt high and appeared to hang in the air as he planted a header into the far corner of the net for what proved to be the matchwinning goal just before halftime as he netted his sixth goal in his last five games.

TV coverage of the match calculated that Ronaldo had leapt 71 centimeters off the ground and headed the ball at a height of 2.56 meters to score.

Ronaldo's goal overshadowed the 'El Clasico' clash in Spain between Barcelona and Real Madrid, which finished goalless, as the former Los Blancos star grabbed the headlines over in Italy.

His strike earned plenty of plaudits online, with one fan tweeting: "On a night in Barcelona, when 22 men failed to score in the most anticipated football clash in the world. A man in Genoa, Italy, rose 2.56 meters in the air and hung in there for 1.5 seconds to score and remind what was missing in that fixture in Spain."

After the match, Sampdoria manager Claudio Ranieri could do nothing but congratulate the Portuguese star for his remarkable header.

"Ronaldo did something that you see in the NBA, he was up in the air for an hour and a half!" said Sampdoria coach Claudio Ranieri."There's nothing you can say about it, you can only congratulate him and move on."

Ronaldo thought he'd added another goal late in the match, but saw his effort ruled out by the offside flag, while Sampdoria's goalscorer Caprari was dismissed for a second bookable offense deep into stoppage time.

"The whole team showed the right attitude," Ronaldo told Sky Italia after the match.

"It was a good goal and I am glad to help the team with another three points.

"I had problems with my knee for a month, but that has gone now and I feel good physically."