Juve puts one hand on title

ROME－Juventus closed all talk of a challenge to its Serie A dominance after coming through a second-half onslaught at Napoli to win 2-1 in an engrossing match that saw both sides reduced to 10 men.

Sunday's victory stretched Juve's lead to 16 points, with Massimiliano Allegri's unbeaten leader as good as sealing it eighth straight Serie A title.

Leading 2-0 and a man up at the interval, Juve looked like it would cruise to victory. However, the game sparked back into life when scorer Miralem Pjanic was sent off after picking up a second yellow card for handball.

"I fell asleep, I should have replaced Pjanic when he had the first card. He was at risk, but I didn't expect him to handle," said Allegri, whose Juve future is uncertain after five seasons in Turin.

"I already said we'll sit down to talk about this season and the next. I am very happy to be at Juventus."

Midfielder Pjanic swept home a freekick opener in the 28th minute, which came immediately after Napoli had goalkeeper Alex Meret sent off for slicing down Cristiano Ronaldo as the Portuguese nipped in to intercept a terrible Kevin Malcuit back-pass.

Emre Can added the second from a corner 11 minutes later after substitute David Ospina tipped away Pjanic's stinging shot, but the Bosnian's red card gave Napoli a glimmer of hope.

Napoli was back in the game in the 61st minute when Jose Callejon tapped home a pinpoint Lorenzo Insigne cross, and then piled the pressure on a suddenly creaking Juve, with Piotr Zielinski twice forcing fine saves from countryman Wojciech Szczesny.

It looked as though the host would snatch a point when it was awarded a penalty with six minutes remaining for a controversial handball decision against Alex Sandro given by VAR. However, Insigne crashed his spot-kick against a post and let the champion off the hook.

Astori remembered

Play at Stadio San Paolo was halted in the 13th minute to honor the memory of former Italy international Davide Astori, with fans of both sides applauding the ex-Fiorentina captain who died in his sleep on March 4 last year. He was 31 years old.

Astori's name was chanted by fans of AC Milan, where he came through as a youth player, during a 1-0 win over Sassuolo on Saturday.

The victory took Gennaro Gattuso's side third and a point above city rival Inter, which lost 2-1 at Cagliari. Inter was again without star striker Mauro Icardi due to the Argentine's ongoing contract dispute with the club.

AFP