Turin, Italy – Paul Pogba bagged a brace on Saturday as Juventus extended its Serie A lead to five points with a 4-0 thrashing of Udinese at Juventus Stadium.
Pogba, the former Manchester United man, got the league leaders off to a good start four minutes from the interval when he worked his way into the attacking third and unleashed a wicked strike from outside the penalty area that flew into the top left corner.
After the break, Juventus kept the pressure on as Pogba struck again in the 66th minute. This time he fired another hard shot into the lower left corner for the comfortable two-goal margin.
Intent on improving their already impressive goal difference, the Old Lady added two more inside the final 20 minutes when Mirko Vucinic got on the end of a corner kick from Arturo Vidal and slotted it past Udinese goalkeeper Marco Storari.
Alessandro Matri finished the rout with a goal 10 minutes from time as Juventus moved to 48 points from 21 matches, while Udinese remains in ninth place on 30 points.
Palermo 2, Lazio 2
Palermo, Italy (Sports Network) - Hernanes converted a crucial penalty kick with six minutes remaining as Lazio lost ground on Juventus, settling for a 2-2 draw with Palermo on Saturday at the Renzo Barbera.
Lazio opened the scoring with a goal from Sergio Floccari in the 10th minute, but the hosts equalized 20 minutes from time when Arevalo Rios tapped it home off a cross from Andrea Dossena.
But the stalemate did not last very long as Paulo Dybala took a pass from Fabrizio Miccoli and hit it into the lower left corner of the net for a 2-1 edge.
Floccari was taken down in the penalty area by Ezequiel Munoz, leaving Lazio with a chance to escape with a point, and Hernanes stepped up and buried the spot kick to rescue Lazio.
Lazio sits in second with 43 points, while Palermo improved to 16 points from 21 matches, but is still three points from safety.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.