Fernando Llorente scored in each half as Juventus humbled Cagliari with an emphatic 4-1 victory at the Sant’Elia Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Despite having taken the lead in the match through Mauricio Pinilla, the hosts were reduced to ten men in the final minutes of the game, while Claudio Marchisio scored a world class strike en-route to Juve’s victory.
Having claimed an eight point distance over their nearest title chasers Roma, Juventus were hoping to maintain that distance when they headed into the game against a seven-match unbeaten Cagliari side.
The Isolani certainly rattled a few feathers with their dominating display in the opening stages of the game and they deservingly took the lead in the 23rd minute through Pinilla. A cross was supplied into the box and it glanced over one of the Chilean’s teammates which allowed him to tap home from close range.
Cagliari nearly made it 2-0 when Daniele Conti brilliantly struck a glancing header from Andrea Cossu’s corner, but it whisked narrowly over the bar.
But Juventus responded with a goal of their own on the half hour mark. Stefan Lichsteiner got himself in a promising position on the right flank and he crossed in a perfect ball which Llorente headed past Antonio Adan in goal.
Daniele Dessena was brilliantly denied by Gianluigi Buffon just before the break, before Kwadwo Asamoah tried an audacious effort after the restart. The Ghanaian was delivered a cross by Andrea Pirlo and he smacked home a volley which he couldn’t fashion on target, seeing it go sky high.
But it wasn’t long until Claudio Marchisio restored things as to how Juventus know it best, = turning the scoreline 2-1 in favour of the Bianconeri. The midfielder, who came on for Pirlo, smacked home a powerful drive from 20-yards which rattled the back of the net in style.
The midfielder’s striker opened the doors for a whitewash by the Bianconeri as two more goals followed suit.
Llorente got his second strike of the afternoon when he tapped in Lichsteiner’s cross from the flank with 15 minutes to go, before the full-back was rewarded with a goal of his own from his two assists.
The Swiss knocked in Adan’s smothered ball from a shot by Llorente’s, before the game ended in ugly scenes as Pinilla went from hero to zero with his sending off just minutes away from the final whistle.
