Rome: Claudio Marchisio added another goal in the best season of his career so far and Arturo Vidal converted a controversial penalty as Juventus beat Cesena 2-0 on Sunday to reclaim the Italian league lead.
Cesena's 42-year-old goalkeeper, Francesco Antonioli, had kept Juventus in check until Marchisio fired in a long shot between two defenders with his weaker left foot in the 72nd minute at the Turin club's new stadium.
It was Marchisio's sixth goal of the season, drawing him even closer to the player he is most often compared to — former Juve midfielder Marco Tardelli, who scored eight goals in a campaign twice during the early 1980s and helped lead Italy to the 1982 World Cup title.
Marchisio was once a questionable selection for Italy's national team under former coach Marcello Lippi. But he has developed into a reliable presence in the centre of the pitch for both the Azzurri and Juventus, having scored in Italy's 1-1 draw at Serbia in October.
"Marchisio did well," Cesena coach Daniele Arrigoni said. "We had played an orderly match but we hadn't constructed any chances. Then just when it seemed the match was headed (toward a draw) he scored."
In the 80th, Antonioli punched away a cross and then collided with Juventus forward Emanuele Giaccherini, receiving a red card that set up a penalty for Vidal despite vehement protests from Cesena.
Cesena had already used all three of their substitutions, so defender Guillerme Rodriguez had to put on Antonioli's jersey and gloves and step in goal for Vidal's penalty. They weren't of much use, though, as Rodriguez moved to his right and Vidal easily knocked the ball into the other corner of the net.
"The penalty took away our chance to come back in the last 10 minutes," Cesena coach Daniele Arrigoni said. "From the bench, it didn't seem like a penalty or a red card to me. The problem is that now we lose our goalkeeper for the next match."
Juventus moved two points ahead of AC Milan and Udinese.
AC Milan had provisionally moved top with a 2-0 win at Genoa on Friday, while Udinese edged out struggling Inter Milan 1-0 on Saturday at the San Siro.
Juventus remain the only unbeaten team in Serie A and this win was all the more impressive since it came without key midfielder Andrea Pirlo, who was suspended.
Juventus finished seventh last season and missed out on Europe, but new coach Antonio Conte has made the 27-time champion a contender again.
"This result shows that we're maturing," Conte said. "When you try every which way to score, you risk making yourself nervous and getting anxious. I told the players during the break not to let their nerves get to them and to move wider. I looked at the statistics and we had 70 per cent of the ball possession and 21 shots. We're improving day by day."
The only negative moment for Juve came when captain Alessandro Del Piero was carried off in the 62nd after being bloodied by a kick to the face from defender Marco Rossi, opening a wound above his left eye that required eight stitches.
Meanwhile, Fiorentina beat eight-man Roma 3-0 after goals from Stevan Jovetic, Alessandro Gamberini and Santiago Silva.
Roma was reduced to 10 men when Juan was shown a straight red card for pushing Jovetic down in the 15th, even though Jovetic appeared to be holding Juan's jersey. Jovetic converted the ensuing penalty and Gamberini doubled the lead in the 44th, leaping over Roma defender Gabriel Heinze to head in a corner.
Having missed all of last season following knee surgery, Jovetic has six goals this campaign. Gamberini, meanwhile, has now scored three times — the only goals he's scored in the past five seasons — against Roma.
After Roma midfielder Fernando Gago was sent off midway through the second half for his second yellow card, Silva added another penalty for Fiorentina in the 86th after Bojan Krkic was shown red for blocking a shot with his hand.
Fiorentina players wore black armbands and a minute of silence was observed before the match in honour of Brazil great Socrates, who died earlier on Sunday at the age of 57. Socrates played for Fiorentina in the 1984-85 season and scored six goals.
Elsewhere, Bologna beat Siena 1-0 as Marco Di Vaio scored in the 28th following a splendid backheel pass from Alessandro Diamanti.
Also, Chievo Verona were held to a scoreless draw at home by Atalanta.
There was also a scoreless draw in the late match between Parma and Palermo, which was played in thick fog. The draw moved Palermo level with fifth-place Napoli, nine points behind Juventus.
Earlier in the lunchtime fixture, Colombian forward Victor Ibarbo scored his first Serie A goal to give Cagliari a 1-0 win at Catania in a matchup of two island-based clubs.
In the 64th, the 21-year-old Ibarbo went past two defenders near the endline and the corner flag, did well to keep the ball in play and then beat Catania goalkeeper Mariano Andujar.
Cagliari goalkeeper Michael Agazzi preserved the victory with a difficult save against Maxi Lopez in added time.
Lazio face Novara on Monday.
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