Juventus defeated Roma 3-0 at the Juventus Stadium on Sunday night in Serie A.
Goals from Arturo Vidal, Leonardo Bonucci, and a Mirko Vucinic penalty decided the game for the Bianconeri, while Roma had Daniele De Rossi and Leandro Castan sent off within two minutes of each other in the second half.
Juventus could have had a goal in the opening seconds when Mehdi Benatia’s pass fell to Andrea Pirlo, but the Italian international failed to capitalise on that error from the defender.
The Giallorossi could’ve made it 1-0 when Francesco Totti darted forward with the ball and slotted it through to Adem Ljajic who was coming from the right, but Giorgio Chiellini made a last-ditch tackle to deny Ljajic from finishing past Gianluigi Buffon.
However, Juve broke the deadlock with 17 minutes on the clock when Carlos Tevez received the ball and waited for the barging Arturo Vidal before making a clinical pass to the Chilean who finished past Morgan De Sanctis at the near post.
Roma could’ve had an equaliser when Miralem Pjanic had a shot from the edge of the penalty box which was kept out by Buffon.
Dodo also tried a shot which could’ve caused trouble, but Buffon was equal to the Brazilian’s attempt.
Around the half hour mark it was almost 2-0, as Tevez notched onto Paul Pogba’s through pass, but the Argentine’s first touch let him down.
La Vecchia Signora continued to threaten Roma; Tevez received he ball on his chest and unleashed a shot which went untouched across the face of goal.
Fernando Llorente unleashed a shot from distance minutes later which went inches over the bar, another dangerous chance for the Bianconeri.
The start of the second half was similar to the first half, Roma with the possession, but Juventus more clinical.
And soon after the second goal came when Andrea Pirlo’s delivery from a free-kick was met by Leonardo Bonucci at the back post to made it 2-0 to the Bianconeri.
In an attempt to change the style of play, Rudi Garcia made a double change by putting on Mattia Destro and Vasilis Torosidis in place of Miralem Pjanic and Dodo.
Roma continued to try and pull one back, after a swift one-two Totti found himself in a position to take shot away, but Chiellini put it out for a corner before the Roma captain could do anything.
Vidal was brought down by Kevin Strootman on the edge of the box, Pirlo stepped up to take the resulting free-kick, but it was handled well by De Sanctis.
The Giallorossi were soon reduced to 10 men when De Rossi’s reckless challenge on Chiellini forced referee Nicola Rizzoli to send the Italian international off.
Then moments later, Roma were reduced to nine men when Leandro Castan handled the ball off the line. Mirko Vucinic calmly scored the resulting penalty to make it 3-0 and put he game to bed.
Ljajic had the chance to pull one back through a free-kick, but the Serbian blazed his set-piece over the bar.
This is Roma’s first defeat of the season, this defeat leaves them eight points adrift from leaders Juventus.
Follow Ahmed Assem on Twitter: @AhmedAssem97
