Juventus scored twice in second-half stoppage time to restore their 10-point lead at the top of Serie A this evening, beating Cagliari Calcio 3-1.
© AP Photos
The hosts took a shock lead in the 15th minute when Mauricio Pinilla blasted a penalty past Gianluigi Buffon after the referee adjudged Arturo Vidal to have brought Marco Sau down inside the box.
Andrea Pirlo threatened towards the end of the first half, sending in a curling effort that Michael Agazzi had to be on hand to save.
Agazzi was called into action again two minutes after the restart, producing a fine save from Claudio Marchisio's effort.
Cagliari almost doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark when Sau unleashed a snapshot having escaped Leonardo Bonucci, but his goalbound effort was stopped by Buffon.
Juventus came within a whisker of getting an equalising goal in the 64th minute when Bonucci headed an effort against the bar, before Alessandro Matri and Kwadwo Asamoah both missed rebounds.
The hosts' task was made even harder just a minute later when Davide Astori was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Sebastian Giovinco.
Juventus should have capitalised almost immediately as they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Giovinco five minutes later. However, Vidal blasted the spot kick high and wide.
The league leaders finally got an equaliser with 15 minutes left, however, as Matri was the fastest to react to Agazzi's save from Mirko Vucinic's shot to tap in the rebound.
Agazzi then saved Asamoah's close-range header before Juventus finally found the winner, Matri slotting home his second of the game.
The visitors put the icing on the cake in the 95th minute when Giovinco's shot was turned in from a couple of yards out by Vucinic.
Barney Corkhill
