Paulo Dybala's second-half strike was enough to guide Juventus to a 1-0 victory over AC Milan in their Serie A clash this evening.
The teams exchanged long-range efforts in the opening stages of the game as M'Baye Niang sent his left-footed strike narrowly over the bar, while Claudio Marchisio saw his shot well saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
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Milan had a good opportunity to take the the lead when a ball over the top of the Juve defence found Alessio Cerci in space in the box, but the forward miscued his header from close range.
Hernanes almost found the breakthrough late in the first half when he lined up a free kick from 25 yards, which took a deflection on its way to goal, but Donnarumma did well to palm the ball over the bar.
In the second half, Alex Sandro came close to unlocking the Milan defence when he raided down the left and cut back inside on to his right foot. The winger fired a curling effort at goal, but his strike crept inches past the post.
Paul Pogba almost produced a moment of brilliance with a strike from 35 yards, but Donnarumma did well to watch the swerving ball to punch the Frenchman's effort over the bar.
Juventus's pressure in the second half paid off when Dybala fired the home side ahead as he finished a neat team move down the left by controlling the ball on his chest before rifling a left-footed volley past Donnarumma.
Juraj Kucka could have brought the visitors level when he managed to find space to fire an effort at goal from inside the six-yard box, but he sent his strike over the bar.
Juventus could have doubled their lead in stoppage time, but Mario Mandzukic scuffed his close-range effort over the bar. However, his side still managed to hold out to clinch the three points, despite a late effort from Cerci.
The result lifts Juve above Milan into sixth place in the table, with Sinisa Mihajlovic's men dropping down into seventh.
Simon Sinclair
