Juventus were always going to make life miserable for a morally deflated Palermo side, the Bianconeri defeating the Rosanero 4-0 at the Juventus Stadium.
Sami Khedira opened the scoring for the home side within the opening 10 minutes. Second half strikes from Paul Pogba, Juan Cuadrado and Simone Padoin completed the rout and has all but assured the Bianconeri a fifth consecutive Scudetto.
Juve were applying pressure from opening minute and after narrowly missing the target, Khedira put his team in front, chesting down a lovely Paul Pogba lofted through ball before volleying past goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino with the outside of his boot.
Worrying moments followed for Juventus as Claudio Marchisio was stretchered off the pitch in obvious discomfort.
Palermo’s first effort on goal came after 18 minutes when Gianluigi Buffon was able to adjust himself to Ivaylo Chochev’s deflected shot.
At the half-hour mark, a Paulo Dybala corner kick found Pogba alone in the box but the phenom’s effort was pushed away from the top corner by Sorrentino.
Two minutes later Aleksandar Trajkovski beat Buffon with a chipped effort after being played through on goal by Franco Vazquez but Andrea Barzagli backed up his keeper well to make a crucial clearance.
On the stroke of halftime a Dybala free kick found the head of Patrice Evra but the Frenchman wasted his chance.
Juventus doubled their lead after 71 minutes when a Juan Cuadrado corner kick was flicked on by Alvaro Morata across the face of goal to a grateful Pogba who converted from close range.
Juventus made it three just three minutes later from a fantastic individual effort from Cuadrado. The Colombian flicked the ball past Achraf Lazaar and feigned right to create a bit of space before unleashing an unstoppable effort into the top corner of the net.
The rout was completed in the 89th minute when substitute Padoin slid his effort past Sorrentino after being played through by Morata.
The victory puts Juventus nine points clear of second-place Napoli. Palermo, meanwhile, drop down to the 19th spot, with Frosinone’s last-gasp victory against Hellas Verona.
