Higuain double as Juve move four clear of Roma
GONZALO HIGUAIN hit a brace either side of Paulo Dybala’s first-half spotkick as Juventus moved four points clear of Roma yesterday with a comfortable 3-0 win over Bologna in Turin.
In their first competitive match since losing the Italian Super Cup to AC Milan in Doha days before Christmas, Juventus were without Gianluigi Buffon, Leonardo Bonucci, Dani Alves and Patrice Evra for the visit of Roberto Donadoni’s men.
But Bologna’s last win over Juve came in February 2011, and their hopes of launching any kind of challenge suffered a setback on seven minutes when Miralem Pjanic found Higuain with a searching pass that the Argentinian smashed on the volley past the hands of Antonio Mirante.
Dybala doubled Juve’s lead minutes before halftime by firing low into the bottom corner after Stefano Sturaro had earned a generous penalty upon colliding with Marios Oikonomou on the edge of the area.
Higuain put the match beyond all reach when he rose unchallenged to nod past Mirante from Stephan Lichsteiner’s perfectlyweighted cutback on 55 minutes after a great counter-attacking move that left Bologna in disarray.
The champions have a game in hand following the postponement of their league fixture against Crotone due to end-of-year Super Cup commitments and coach Massimiliano Allegri told Sky Sport: “It was important to put a bit of distance between us and the rest.
“It’s a great championship this season and it could go right down to the wire. Roma are only four points behind us and a few other teams are not far behind.
“Our number one priority is to win the title, and it won’t be easy after five in a row.”
Only one goal behind league leader Icardi, Roma striker Edin Dzeko hit a series of blanks as the Giallorossi laboured to a 1-0 win at Genoa where Armando Izzo’s disastrous firsthalf own goal secured the points.
Lazio remain in fourth, only a point behind Napoli, after Ciro Immobile made up for Lucas Biglia’s penalty miss at the Stadio Olimpico by striking in the final minute to secure a 1-0 win over dogged Crotone.
At the San Siro Carlos Bacca ended his 98-day goal drought with an 88th minute winner against Cagliari that saw AC Milan up to fifth to close within nine points off the summit.
Atalanta’s stunning season continued with a 4-1 away win at Chievo where Alejandro Gomez notably hit a first-half brace to send the Bergamo side up to sixth at just seven points behind Juve.
Earlier, Ivan Perisic scored twice including a late winner as Inter Milan began the New Year with a 2-1 comeback win at Udinese. – AFP