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Serie A
Apr 24, 2016 at 7.45pm UK
 
JL

1-2

Kalinic (81')
FT(HT: 0-1)
Mandzukic (39'), Morata (83')

Juventus close on fifth straight Serie A title

:Headline: Result: Juventus close on fifth straight Serie A title: ID:271338: from db_amp
Mario Mandzukic and Alvaro Morata score the goals as Juventus beat Fiorentina 2-1 in Florence to move 12 points clear at the top of Serie A.

Juventus have taken a big step towards a fifth successive Serie A title after beating Fiorentina 2-1 in Florence on Sunday night.

The victory, which arrived courtesy of a winning goal from Alvaro Morata, means that the Old Lady will be crowned champions with three games remaining if second-placed Napoli fail to beat Roma on Monday afternoon.

Juventus, who have now won 24 of their last 25 league matches, had the ball in the back of the net in the 17th minute when Sami Khedira turned home from close range, but the offside flag was raised following an acrobatic pass from Mario Mandzukic.

The officials correctly chalked off Khedira's effort, but they got one wrong down the other end after Federico Bernardeschi finished past Gianluigi Buffon.

It appeared that the attacker was offside when he collected a fine through-pass from Nikola Kalinic, but the 22-year-old had timed his run perfectly and should have sent his side into a first-half lead against the champions.

Fiorentina were looking the most likely to make the breakthrough as the first period approached its latter stages and Milan Badelj and Cristian Tello both came close for the home side with long-range attempts.

It was Juventus that opened the scoring six minutes before the end of the first period, however, as Paul Pogba headed a Khedira cross into the path of Mandzukic, who smashed home from close range.

Fiorentina had a golden chance to level in the final moments of the half when Marcos Alonso met a corner from the right, but the defender somehow headed wide of the post under pressure from Daniele Rugani.

Tello found Josip Ilicic in a dangerous position as Fiorentina created the first chance of the second period in the 52nd minute, but the attacker sliced his effort over the crossbar as it remained 1-0 to the Old Lady.

Fiorentina continued to search for a leveller as the hour mark approached and indeed passed, with Mauro Zarate and Kalinic both testing Buffon between the Juventus sticks.

The home side finally had a deserved equaliser in the 81st minute when Kalinic lashed a 20-yard strike past Buffon, but their lead lasted less than two minutes as Morata turned home from close range after a weak strike from Patrice Evra to send Juventus back ahead.

Fiorentina had a golden chance to level the scores once again when Juan Cuadrado conceded a penalty in the 90th minute for a late challenge on Kalinic, but Buffon kept out Kalinic's resulting spot kick.

Incredibly, Kalinic was to have another wonderful chance to prevent Juventus from securing all the points, but the 28-year-old crashed a header off the crossbar in the third minute of additional time as the visitors moved to within touching distance of the title.

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1Atalanta BCAtalanta18132343202341
2Inter Milan17124145153040
3Napoli17122326121438
4Lazio1811253325835
5Fiorentina1694329131631
6Juventus17710028131531
7Bologna167722318528
8AC Milan167542516926
9Udinese177282126-523
10Roma175482323019
11Empoli184771721-419
12Torino175481722-519
13Genoa184771627-1119
14Parma184682534-918
15Lecce174491129-1816
16Como173681830-1215
17Hellas VeronaHellas Verona1750122140-1915
18CagliariCagliari1835101631-1514
19VeneziaVenezia1734101730-1313
20Monza1817101625-910
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