Mario Mandzukic, Stefano Sturaro and Simone Zaza struck in the second half as champions Juventus moved up to fifth place in Serie A with a convincing 3-0 win at US Citta di Palermo on Sunday.
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said it had been a “good November” as Juventus closed to within six points of leaders Inter and four behind second-placed SSC Napoli.
After Juve had shaded a balanced first half at the Stadio Renzo Barbera, Mandzukic broke the deadlock when he rose above Aljaz Struna to head Paulo Dybala’s curling delivery past a beaten Stefano Sorrentino on 54 minutes.
Photo: AP
Palermo coach Davide Ballardini said Mandzukic’s opener took the wind out their sails.
“For nearly an hour, we played great. After Juve’s goal, we took the foot off the gas a little and made it hard on ourselves,” Ballardini said.
It was a joyous return for Argentina striker Dybala, who quit Palermo last season ahead of a big-money move to the Turin giants, and in the second half he sent a header wide of Sorrentino’s upright.
However, more was to come from the visitors, who put the match beyond all reach a minute from the final whistle when Sturaro ran on to Paul Pogba’s perfectly-weighted ball on the edge of the area to sweep it past Sorrentino.
Allegri had replaced Dybala with Zaza minutes earlier and when the striker found himself on a two-on-one alongside Alvaro Morata, he collected the Spaniard’s return to feint past Andrea Rispoli and beat Sorrentino down low at his near post in stoppage-time.
Juventus moved up one place, one point ahead of AC Milan and are just three behind their biggest title rivals from the past two years, AS Roma, who suffered a shock 2-0 home defeat to Atalanta BC.
Roma’s defeat heaped the pressure on coach Rudi Garcia.
After seeing his team fail to respond to Alejandro Gomez’s 40th-minute strike and German Denis’ penalty on 82 minutes, Garcia said he would not look for excuses after a display for which he said the whole team felt “responsible.”
Crisis-hit SS Lazio saw two second-half goals by Miroslav Klose chalked off on their way to a fourth defeat in five consecutive matches away to Empoli.
Stefano Pioli’s men never recovered from a fifth-minute opener by Lorenzo Tonelli, despite a stirring second-half performance that had Empoli’s defense on the ropes.
Lazio remain in 10th spot, 11 points behind Inter, with Empoli moving five points clear of the drop zone, up to 12th.
Elsewhere, AC Chievo Verona were beaten 3-2 at home by Udinese, while Frosinone won 3-2 against visitors Hellas Verona and hosts Genoa were defeated 2-1 by Carpi.
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