Juventus 4 - 0 AS Roma - Juve ease to victory

Posted Sunday, April 22, 2012 by PA

Juventus cruised to a 4-0 win over ten-man Roma to go three points clear of AC Milan at the top of Serie A on a perfect night for Antonio Conte's side at the Juventus Stadium.

Arturo Vidal scored twice in the first eight minutes as the Bianconeri responded well to Milan's surprise home draw with Bologna earlier in the day.

The home side were assisted by a controversial penalty decision which saw Maarten Stekelenburg sent off in the 26th minute, and Andrea Pirlo on the rebound after seeing his spot-kick saved.

Claudio Marchisio completed the scoring in the 52nd minute to round-off a comprehensive win which, regardless of the red card, was never in any doubt.

Juve were quick out of the blocks with Vidal putting them in front in the fourth minute.

Paolo De Ceglie's square ball was behind Vucinic, but perfectly placed for Vidal to curl his shot into the far corner beyond the reach of Stekelenburg.

Stekelenburg got his fingertips to Vidal's next effort in the eighth minute, but he was still unable to keep the ball out.

Vucinic progressed with the ball at his feet and played it to his right where Vidal rifled in a venomous shot into the far corner.

The game was practically over as a contest when the referee harshly awarded a penalty and sent Stekelenburg off when Marchisio appeared to leap over his outstretched arms.

Gianluca Curci came on and actually saved Pirlo's penalty, but the Juve captain was quickest to react to convert the rebound.

Marchisio completed the scoring in the 52nd minute, thanks again to former Roma striker Vucinic.

The Montenegrin's perfect control took the pace out of a cross from the left and teed the ball up for Marchisio, who swept a shot past Curci from the edge of the area.

Marchisio brought an excellent save out of Curci in the 71st minute before Juve took the pace out of the game and began conserving energy for the trip to Cesena on Wednesday.