Alessandro Matri returned to haunt his former club Cagliari last night when he scored twice in Juventus’s 3-1 win. The victory ended a run of three straight defeats and eased the pressure on Juve coach Luigi Delneri.
Matri’s goals sandwiched a strike from Cagliari’s Robert Acquafresca before Luca Toni scored a late clincher.
Cagliari goalkeeper Michael Agazzi had a match to forget as he was at fault for all three Juve goals.
On 20 minutes Matri tried his luck from just inside the area, shooting hard towards the near post but although Agazzi looked to have it covered, he let it slip through his grasp.
He then committed an absolute howler, letting a shot from Giorgio Chiellini slip through his fingers before being saved by an offside flag.
If Cagliari had failed to create much in the first half, they were a transformed team after the break.
Just six minutes after the restart, Andrea Cossu found space out on the left and chipped an inswinging cross behind the Juve defence where Acquafresca ran on to acrobatically volley home across Gianluigi Buffon.
The hosts could have had a second on the hour as Cossu cleverly took a quick free-kick, chipping over the napping Juve defence where Daniele Conti ran onto it but could not get a true contact on the ball and sliced it off target.
Matri had another chance but sent a near-post header just past the upright.
Midway through the half, Juve substitute Alessandro Del Piero tried his luck from range but shot too high.
Matri got his second on 75 minutes as he arrived at the back post to volley home Chiellini’s cross, although Agazzi’s positioning was again suspect.
Cagliari thought they had drawn level late on when Nene headed home a free-kick but it was disallowed for a foul on Toni.
And moments later Toni scored his first goal for the club six minutes from time to put the game to bed, heading home a Del Piero cross from 17 yards out, although again Agazzi’s positioning looked questionable.
Udinese continued their bid for a Champions League finish as they beat Sampdoria 2-0 to move to within a point of the top four.
It was their fifth win, alongside two draws, since the turn of the year and only Inter have gained more points than them in 2011.
Striker Antonio Di Natale reached 100 league goals for the club as he notched the second following Alexis Sanchez’s opener.
“I’ve been waiting two weeks for that,” said Di Natale.
“We’re safe (having reached 40 points) now so we need to get as many points as possible and then see where we are.”
For Sampdoria it was a fourth straight defeat in all competitions.
Serie A
Udinese 2
Sanchez 18; Di Natale 40;
Sampdoria 0
HT: 2-0. Att: 15,000
Cagliari 1
Acquafresca 51;
Juventus 3
Matri 20, 75; Toni 84;
HT: 0-1. Att: 23,000
Playing today – 15.00
Bologna vs Catania (1-1) - 12.30
Brescia vs Bari (1-2)
Genoa vs Milan (0-1)
Inter vs Roma (0-1) - 20.45
Lazio vs Chievo (1-0)
Lecce vs Palermo (2-2)
Napoli vs Cesena (4-1)
Parma vs Fiorentina (0-2)
Top scorers
17 goals: Cavani (Napoli).
16 goals: Di Natale (Udinese).
14 goals: Di Vaio (Bologna).
13 goals: Eto’o (Inter), Ibrahimovic (Milan), Matri (Juventus).
Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Milan vs Parma. 20.45 Roma vs Napoli.
Sunday: 12.30 p.m. Palermo vs Fio-rentina. 15.00 Bari vs Genoa; Brescia vs Lazio; Cagliari vs Chievo; Catania vs Lecce; Cesena vs Udinese; Sampdoria vs Bologna. 20.45 Juve vs Inter.
Serie B
Ascoli 3 - Piacenza 1
Atalanta 1 - Pescara 0
Cittadella 0 - Siena 0
Grosseto 0 - Novara 1
Modena 1 - Crotone 1
Portogruaro 0 - Frosinone 1
Torino 1 - Sassuolo 2
Triestina 1 - Empoli 2
Varese 3 - AlbinoLeffe 0
Tomorrow
Livorno vs Vicenza - 20.45
Standings: Atalanta 50; Siena, Novara 48; Varese 43; Livorno, Torino, Padova, Reggina 35; Empoli 33; Pescara 32; Grosseto, Vicenza 31; Crotone, Modena 30; AlbinoLeffe 28; Cittadella, Sassuolo 27; Piacenza, Portogruaro 25; Ascoli (-6) 24; Triestina, Frosinone 23.