Juventus extended their unbeaten streak to 21 games thanks to a 1-0 victory over Catania at the Stadio Angelo Massimino in Serie A action on Sunday evening.
Carlos Tevez scored the only goal as Juve maintained their pace at the top of the table while the Rossazzurri remain at the foot of it.
Juve grabbed control in the early going as expected. Andrea Pirlo, fresh off a free kick goal against Fiorentina in the Europa League, had a similar opportunity, narrowly missing the top right corner with that attempt.
The game slowed down for about 10 minutes, both sides fired shots that were way off the mark. Other than that, there weren’t a whole lot of scoring chances.
Nicolas Spolli then blasted his header high and wide of the net following a Francesco Lodi free kick, which presented the perfect opportunity for the hosts to score.
Tevez responded with a header of his own from a Mauricio Isla cross that also went wide of the mark. Pablo Osvaldo replied moments later, but he too missed the far post with his shot.
The second half began with a flurry of fouls from both teams, but Juventus once again took the reigns and dictated the tempo. They still couldn’t manage to generate anything on goal thanks to Catania’s stingy defending.
Finally, just before the hour mark, the opener arrived. Osvaldo headed a pass across the box which found Tevez, who made no mistake and tapped it in to give the league leaders a 1-0 lead.
It went from bad to worse for the Sicilians after striker Gonzalo Bergessio was booked for a second time for a foul on Giorgio Chiellini.
Pirlo nearly delivered on another free kick opportunity shortly thereafter, stinging the palms of goalkeeper Mariano Andujar.
Tevez nearly put the icing on the cake off a counter attack, but he shot the ball wide of the near post on a breakaway. It didn’t matter in the end as his team held on for the win.
