Big win for Juventus

Andrea Pirlo celebrates his strike.

Juventus opened up a three-point lead at the top of Serie A after seeing of Roma 4-1 at the Juventus Stadium.

The victory was wrapped up within the opening 20 minutes with goals from Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Alessandro Matri putting the Bianconeri in the driving seat.

Pablo Osvaldo pulled a goal back from the penalty spot for the Giallorossi, but Zdenek Zeman's men were unable to find a way back into the game and Sebastian Giovinco added a late fourth to leave Roma eight points behind the Bianconeri in the Serie A table.

The coals had been stoked in the build-up to the game with long-time Juve critic Zeman's return to Turin dominating the headlines even before the midweek matches in Serie A.

As expected, he was given a hostile reception by the Juve fans and an even more hostile one from the Juve team, who had the ball in the back of the net three times inside the first 20 minutes.

The first goal arrived in the 11th minute with Pirlo despatching one of his trademark free-kicks, opting for a low shot which took a slight deflection off the wall on its way past Maarten Stekelenurg.

The second goal was a gift for Juve in the 16th minute as Leandro Castan handled the ball inside the area and Vidal stepped up to score from the spot.

Three minutes later, the contest was practically over as Matri broke free to meet Stekelenburg and beat him with a powerful shot which released all the pent up frustration at not having opened his account for the season - until now.

It could have turned even worse for Roma in the 36th

minute when Mirko Vucinic grazed the top of the crossbar.

Perhaps with one eye already on Tuesday's Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk, Juve appeared to take it a little easier in the second half.

They conceded a goal in the 69th minute when Leonardo Bonucci shoved Mattia Destro inside the penalty area and Osvaldo converted the spot-kick.

Juve had a goal disallowed four minutes later with Bonucci in an offside position when he pounced to score after Paolo De Ceglie's shot hit the post.

Osvaldo had a shot saved by Gianluigi Buffon before Giovinco wrapped up the win in the last minute.

He raced through, nudged the ball past Stekelenburg and then slid it into the open goal to wrap up the victory in a game which ended fractionally before the 90 minutes were up.

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