Milan: Juventus dismantled Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi as a resounding 5-0 victory maintained their push for the Serie A title after putting an end to a sequence of four consecutive league draws.
Mirko Vucinic opened the scoring just after a quarter of an hour, but the real turning point in the match was the dismissal of Alessio Cerci, who saw red for a petulant kick on Martin Caceres after 21 minutes.
The hosts never recovered from the numerical disadvantage, and further goals from Artuo Vidal, Claudio Marchisio, Andrea Pirlo and Simone Padoin rounded off the emphatic win for Antonio Conte's men, who close the gap at the top of the table on AC Milan to four points.
Juventus nearly stormed into the lead after only six minutes of play. Vucinic’s shot from the edge of the area rebounded off the base of the post, and Alessandro Matri's follow up was volleyed high and wide.
However, 10 minutes later, Vucinic would make no mistake as he fired the visitors into the lead. A brilliant short passing move found the Montenegrin in space at the top of the box, and his curled effort flew in with Artur Bouc rooted to the spot.
Juventus took full advantage of their numerical superiority from 21 minutes onwards following Cerci's dismissal as they doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark. Andrea Pirlo’s near post corner was held up fantastically by Vucinic, who set up Vidal for a strike on goal. The Chilean’s initial effort was saved, but he wasted little time in slotting the rebound home.
It was one way traffic thereafter, as Juve had little trouble in maintaining pressure in the attacking third. Fiorentina were perhaps relieved to see the half time whistle blow as they were struggling to keep the visitors at bay.
However, the Viola regrouped and renewed their focus after the break and controlled play at the start of the second half. Nevertheless, it was Juventus who went closest to scoring again in the 52nd minute when Matri teed up Vucinic for a strike from outside the box which flashed just wide.
Moments later, Juventus grabbed their third. Marchisio was both the architect and the finisher, spraying the ball wide to Vucinic, continuing his run into the box and heading home the Montenegrin’s cross from point blank range.
With an hour gone, Andrea Lazzari sent a powerful shot that seemed to be destined for the back of the net, but a fingertip stop from Gianluigi Buffon diverted the shot onto the post.
Juventus added another goal not long after when a sumptuous through-ball by Vucinic was tracked by Pirlo, who dinked his shot impudently over Boruc and into the back of the net.
Fiorentina were floored after the fourth goal, and found themselves further behind in the 72nd minute. Pirlo’s long range effort took a deflection right into the path of substitute Padoin, who, with his first touch of the match, side-footed home with aplomb.
The remainder of the contest was played out by the visitors with consummate ease, never looking troubled as they closed the match at their own pace.
The result sees Juventus reduce the deficit on Milan at the top of the table to four points with 10 games remaining. Fiorentina meanwhile sink to 16th place, seven points above the relegation zone.
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