Serie A leaders Juventus take 6-point lead; Roma vs Lazio goalless
16 April 2018 6:05 PM GMT
Turin: Six-time Serie A defending champions Juventus overpowered Sampdoria 3-0 to take a six-point lead over second-placed Napoli, who were held goalless by AC Milan, while Roma and Lazio also played a goalless draw in the capital derby of the Italian football league.
Brazilian on-loan winger Douglas Costa on Sunday provided a trio of excellent assists from which Mario Mandzukic (45th minute), Benedikt Howedes (60th) and Sami Khedira (75th) scored.
Coast, who came on as a substitute for injured midfielder Miralem Pjanic, set-up the hosts' opening goal for Mandzukic, who crashed home on the volley from Costa's cross from the left.
On the hour-mark, Costa delivered a delightful chipped through ball towards the back post for Howedes to hammer home a header for his first ever goal for the Turin giants, who were coming off a Champions League quarter-final elimination against Real Madrid.
Just 15 minutes later, Khedira fired into the bottom corner after being served the ball on a silver platter from Costa, who completed his hat-trick of assists within half an hour of coming on just before the interval.
"After the substitution, we were able to spread the play more and that was important because the opposition gets up and down the pitch," Juventus chief coach Massimiliano Allegri was quoted as saying by the club's website.
"It was key to win after the Real Madrid game, in which we invested a lot of mental and physical energy. Today we needed to be attentive, technically proficient and intelligent against a team capable of playing good football."
Following the win, Juventus have 84 points, with six rounds of games left.
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