A brace from Alessandro Matri saw Juventus do their hopes of winning the Italian title the power of good last night, seeing off fellow high-riders Udinese 2-1 in Turin.
The win preserved Juve’s unbeaten league record and opened up a provisional four-point lead over Milan, who host Cagliari tonight, while Udinese could see Inter draw level with them if the Nerazzurri can win at Lecce.
Juve moved onto 44 points from 20 games but were eternally grateful to Matri for his predatory instincts after Antonio Floro Flores had threatened to bag a point for the visitors.
Matri’s winner just after the hour mark owed much to an inspired substitution by Juve coach Antonio Conte, who sent on Claudio Marchisio for ex-Udinese favourite Fabio Quagliarella.
Marchisio promptly diverted an Arturo Vidal cross right into Matri’s path and the striker lashed the ball past visiting goalkeeper Samir Handanovic to clinch a crucial win.
Matri had notched his opener from point-blank range after Handanovic had palmed out a near-post header from Qua-gliarella straght to the lurking forward three minutes before the interval.
But substitute Floro Flores pilfered the equaliser 10 minutes after the restart, curling a neat right-footed effort beyond Gianluigi Buffon for his second goal of the season.
Buoyed by that, Udinese fought in snowy conditions to take the game to their hosts, whom they held to a goalless draw earlier in the season.
Colombian Pablo Armero fired in an early volley that Buffon did well to push away diving low to his right and Antonio Di Natale also went close from close range.
Handanovic just managed to take the ball off the toes of the effervescent Matri mid-way through the opening half, while industrious Swiss wing-back Stephane Lichtsteiner found himself in space on the half hour but dithered and, crowded out, saw the chance fade away before he could pick his spot.
Earlier yesterday, Catania and Parma shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw that left both clubs in mid-table.
Serie A
Catania 1
Bergessio 33;
Parma 1
Modesto 43;
HT: 1-1. Att: 11,000.
Juventus 2
Matri 42, 62;
Udinese 1
Floro Flores 56;
HT: 1-0. Att: 39,625.
P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
Juventus | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 33 | 13 | 44 |
Milan | 19 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 40 | 17 | 40 |
Udinese | 20 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 16 | 38 |
Inter | 19 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 30 | 20 | 35 |
Lazio | 19 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 27 | 19 | 33 |
Roma | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 28 | 20 | 30 |
Napoli | 19 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 34 | 21 | 29 |
Parma | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 25 | 33 | 24 |
Chievo | 19 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 16 | 22 | 24 |
Palermo | 19 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 24 | 27 | 24 |
Genoa | 19 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 25 | 34 | 24 |
Cagliari | 19 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 18 | 23 |
Catania | 19 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 32 | 28 | 23 |
Fiorentina | 19 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 18 | 16 | 22 |
Bologna | 19 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 17 | 25 | 20 |
Atalanta (-6) | 19 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 23 | 25 | 20 |
Siena | 19 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 20 | 20 | 19 |
Cesena | 19 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 13 | 30 | 15 |
Lecce | 19 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 20 | 36 | 13 |
Novara | 19 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 18 | 38 | 12 |
Playing today - 15.00
Cesena vs Atalanta
Chievo vs Lazio - 20.45
Fiorentina vs Siena - 12.30
Genoa vs Napoli
Lecce vs Inter
Milan vs Cagliari - 20.45
Palermo vs Novara
Roma vs Bologna
Top scorers
14 goals: Di Natale (Udiense), Ibrahimovic (Milan).
12 goals: Denis (Atalanta).
11 goals: Cavani (Napoli).
10 goals: Klose (Lazio).
Next fixtures
Tuesday: 20.45 Parma vs Juventus.
Wednesday: 18.00 Atalanta vs Genoa. 20.45 Bologna vs Fiorentina; Cagliari vs Roma; Inter vs Palermo; Lazio vs Milan; Napoli vs Cesena; Siena vs Catania; Udinese vs Lecce.
Thursday: 20.45 Novara vs Chievo.
Serie B
AlbinoLeffe 0 - Bari 2
Empoli 0 - Brescia 2
Grosseto 0 - Reggina 0
Gubbio 0 - Sampdoria 0
Nocerina 2 - Livorno 2
Padova 1 - Cittadella 0
Sassuolo 2 - Verona 0
Varese 0 - Torino 0
Vicenza 1 - Ascoli 1
Standings: Sassuolo 49; Pescara 48; Torino 47; Padova, Verona 44; Varese 35; Brescia 34; Reggina, Grosseto 33; Juve Stabia (-4), Bari (-2) 32; Sampdoria 31; Cittadella 30; Vicenza 27; Livorno 26; Crotone (-1) 25; Modena 24; Albino-Leffe, Gubbio 23; Empoli 22; Ascoli (-7) 19; Nocerina 17.