A spectacular late strike from Arturo Vidal set up a 2-0 win for Juventus at neighbours Torino yesterday, leaving them on the brink of retaining their Serie A title after a seventh successive league win.

Vidal hooked in from 25 metres and Claudio Marchisio added another goal in stoppage time for leaders Juventus, who stayed 11 points clear of Napoli with four matches to play and can wrap up the title at home to Palermo next Sunday.

Fiorentina won 3-0 at Sampdoria but were again overhauled by Milan in third place after the Rossoneri beat Catania 4-2 last night.

Juan Cuadrado, Adem Ljajic and Alberto Aquilani shared the goals for Fiorentina who were facing former coach Delio Rossi, sacked for punching Ljajic in a row during a game a year ago.

Milan twice came from behind to have the better of Catania at the San Siro.

Nicola Legrottaglie headed the visitors in front on the half-hour mark, only for Mathieu Flamini to equalise on the stroke of half-time.

Gonzalo Bergessio restored the Sicilians’ lead on 65 minutes, but two goals in four minutes from substitute Giampaolo Pazzini turned the game in the hosts’ favour before a late Mario Balotelli penalty sealed matters.

Inter’s injury misery continued as captain Javier Zanetti, 39, was carried off on a stretcher in the 17th minute of the 1-0 defeat at Palermo who boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop. Fellow strugglers Genoa also won, 1-0 at Chievo.

Roma forward Pablo Osvaldo produced the day’s best individual effort with a hat-trick in the 4-0 defeat of next-to-bottom Siena. Erik Lamela scored the other goal for fifth-placed Roma.

Juventus have 80 points from 34 games while Napoli have 69 after their 3-0 win at Pescara on Saturday. Milan have 62 points, one ahead of Fiorentina.

Juve, who have not conceded a goal in their last eight meetings with Torino in a run stretching back to 2002, have been a model of consistency, not scoring more than two goals in a game during their current run of wins.

Yesterday’s game was predictably niggly with slippery conditions adding to the tension which boiled over with a red card for Torino’s Kamil Glik in the 90th minute for a second bookable offence.

The match seemed to be in danger of petering out until Chile midfielder Vidal controlled a crossfield pass on his chest and nonchalantly swept home the ball from 25 metres. Marchisio then took advantage of slack defending to complete the scoring.

Siena’s defeat at Roma sent them into the relegation zone, leaving them 19th in the 20-team table with 30 points, with Genoa and Palermo on 32 and Torino on 36. The bottom three go down.

Palermo are unbeaten in their last five games with Ilicic scoring in all of them. He struck in the 10th minute after dreadful Inter defending when Matias Silvestre was dispossessed in the area by Fabrizio Miccoli who laid off the ball for the Slovenian to score.

Serie A

Chievo 0
Genoa 1
Borriello 73;

HT: 0-0. Att: 10,000.

Milan 4
Flamini 44; Pazzini 74, 78; Balotelli 90 pen;
Catania 2
Legrottaglie 30; Bergessio 65;

HT: 1-1. Att: 37,853.

Palermo 1
Ilicic 10;
Inter 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 17,000.

Parma 0
Lazio 0

Att: 13,000.
Red card: Biava (L) 90.

Roma 4
Osvaldo 14, 41, 67; Lamela 16;
Siena 0

HT: 3-0. Att: 40,000.

Sampdoria 0
Fiorentina 3
Cuadrado 36; Ljajic 42; Aquilani 73;

HT: 0-2. Att: 23,000.
Red card: Gastaldello (S) 80.

Torino 0
Juventus 2
Vidal 86; Marchisio 90+;

HT: 0-0. Att: 27,000.
Red card: Glik (T) 90.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Juventus	34	25	5	4	66	20	80
Napoli	34	20	9	5	64	32	69
Milan	34	18	8	8	60	38	62
Fiorentina	34	18	7	9	65	42	61
Roma	34	16	7	11	68	54	55
Udinese	34	14	12	8	46	39	54
Inter	34	16	5	13	51	46	53
Lazio	34	15	7	12	40	40	52
Catania	34	13	9	12	43	43	48
Cagliari	34	11	9	14	41	53	42
Bologna	34	10	10	14	44	43	40
Parma	34	10	10	14	39	43	40
Atalanta (-2)	34	11	8	15	36	49	39
Chievo	34	11	6	17	33	49	39
Sampdoria (-1)	34	10	9	15	38	43	38
Torino (-1)	34	8	13	13	43	51	36
Palermo	34	6	14	14	31	46	32
Genoa	34	7	11	16	34	51	32
Siena (-6)	34	9	9	16	34	49	30
Pescara	34	6	4	24	25	70	22

Top scorers
23 goals: Cavani (Napoli)
18 goals: Di Natale (Udinese)
16 goals: El Shaarawy (Milan)
15 goals: Denis (Atalanta), Osvaldo (Roma), Lamela (Roma), Pazzini (Milan).

Next fixtures
Saturday: 18.00 Chievo vs Cagliari; 20.45 Fiorentina vs Roma.
Sunday: 12.30 Udinese vs Sampdoria. 15.00 Milan vs Torino; Catania vs Siena; Genoa vs Pescara; Juventus vs Palermo; Lazio vs Bologna; Parma vs Atalanta. 20.45 Napoli vs Inter.

Serie B
Empoli 1 - Cesena 0

Prima Divisione ‘A’
AlbinoLeffe vs Trapani 1-1; Carpi vs Tritium 2-1; Cremonese vs Portogruaro 0-0; FeralpiSalo vs San Marino 1-1; Lumezzane vs Treviso 3-0; Reggiana vs Pavia 0-1; SudTirol vs Lecce 1-2; Entella vs Como 5-0.

Leading standings: Trapani, Lecce 60; Carpi 50; Entella, SudTirol 49.

Prima Divisione ‘B’
Avellino vs Andria 4-0; Benevento vs Nocerina 1-2; Carrarese vs Barletta 1-2; Gubbio vs Latina 2-1; Paganese vs Frosinone 1-1; Prato vs Pisa 1-3; Sorrento vs Catanzaro 0-1; Viareggio vs Perugia 1-0.

Leading standings: Avellino 57; Perugia 52; Nocerina 50; Latina 49.