Juventus easily swept past Lazio with a 3-0 victory in Serie A action at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday night.
Goals on either side of the half from Paul Pogba were split by Carlos Tevez’s ninth goal of the season, while Simone Padoin was sent off late in a match that secured Juventus remain three points ahead of second place Roma.
The Biancocelesti had the first chance of the match in the 17th minute when Keita Balde Diao’s lateral pass found Antonio Candreva just outside the area, but the Italians placed right footed shot went just wide of goal.
It was the away side who opened the scoring when Tevez’ superb through ball to Pogba found the Frenchman on the counter, before easily slotting past Federico Marchetti to give the Bianconeri the 1-0 lead in the 24th minute.
The Bianconeri nearly doubled their lead in the 29th minute as Pogba found space down the left before cutting in and sending his curling effort past a helpless Marchetti but off the far post.
Candreva responded in the 37th minute when his free kick from distance was saved low by Gianluigi Buffon, with the Italian covering the rebound.
The away side doubled their lead in the 55th minute after another splendid counter. This time it was Claudio Marchisio who raced down the field and found an unmarked Tevez outside the penalty area, with the Argentine coolly sending his effort past a diving Marchetti to make it 2-0.
Lazio showed timid signs of response when Candreva unleashed a left footed effort from 30 metres out, but Buffon alertly pushed the ball out for a corner kick.
Juve all but wrapped things up in the 64th minute with Pogba bagging his brace to make it 3-0. Roberto Pereyra turned outside the penalty area and found the young Frenchman all alone as he slotted home after waiting for Marchetti to drop to the ground.
It wasn’t all positives for Massimiliano Allegri’s side however as they were reduced to 10 men when Padoin was sent off for his second yellow card of the match after fouling Candreva soon after.
The Lazio midfielder once again attempted to get his name on the scoresheet from a free kick. His long range effort was spilled by Buffon, but play was halted for a foul by Filip Djordjevic on Giorgio Chiellini in the 72nd minute.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Juve continued to push forward as second half substitute Federico Mattiello’s left footed strike forced a great save out of Marchetti in the 75th minute.
Felipe Anderson’s name was next on the list to try and break Buffon’s cleansheet, but after dribbling past two Juve defenders, the Italian goalkeeper punched away the Brazilian’s effort to keep the score at 3-0 and send the Bianconeri home with all three points.
