Juventus rise to top of Serie A

Juventus moved above Napoli to the top of Serie A courtesy of a 2-0 win at Fiorentina on Friday night.

Federico Bernardeschi opened the scoring in the 56th minute, before Gonzalo Higuain netted in the 86th to send Juve two points clear at the top of the league.

Gianluigi Buffon made his 500th league appearance for Juventus, while it was also a special night for Massimiliano Allegri as the 50-year-old took charge of his 200th fixture as the club's head coach.

The victory was the Old Lady's 11th straight success in all competitions, and they have now kept clean sheets in each of their last five Serie A matches.

Fiorentina were initially awarded a penalty in the 18th minute of the match following a Giorgio Chiellini handball, but the decision was overturned in incredible circumstances as the referee first threatened to use VAR before seemingly deciding against the award of the spot kick following a chat with his assistant.

Fiorentina midfielder Marco Benassi was deemed to have been offside moments before Chiellini handled, although replays showed that Juventus defender Alex Sandro had played the ball into the 23-year-old's path.

A tight first half ultimately finished goalless, but the visitors took the lead in the 56th minute when Bernardeschi curled an excellent free kick into the bottom corner of the net.

Cyril Thereau had Fiorentina's best chance in the 70th minute of the match, but Buffon pulled off a spectacular stop on what was a milestone appearance for the 40-year-old.

It was threatening to be a nervy final few minutes for the visitors, but Higuain found the back of the net with a cool finish in the 86th minute to ensure that the Turin giants would collect all three points.

FIORENTINA (4-3-3): Sportiello; Milenkovic, Pezzella, Astori, Biraghi; Veretout, Badelj, Benassi (Eysseric 79'); Chiesa, Simeone, Dias (Thereau 68')

JUVENTUS (4-3-3): Buffon; Lichtsteiner (Barzagli 61'), Benatia, Chiellini, Sandro; Khedira, Pjanic, Marchisio (D.Costa 66'); Bernardeschi (Bentancur 78'), Higuain, Mandzukic