A 31st Scudetto now seems a forgone conclusion for Juventus, after a narrow victory over a surprisingly poor A.C. Milan side.
Just six minutes into the game, the champions elect almost asserted their authority, from an Andrea Pirlo special. The twenty five yard costless kick, conceded by the horribly groomed Robinho, flew straight through a leaky dam of Milan players but was miraculously saved by Abbiati; who was wrong footed by a slight deflection off the back of Ambrosini. This incredible save sadly took its tole on the body of the A.C. Milan goal minder, who was replaced by Marco Amelia.
Arguably the most impressive gravitational feat of the match, came on the 15th minute; when the prodigal Pogba attempted an overhead kick. The cross from Lichsteiner, though slightly over hit, was very nearly turned into the net by the French man in a quite mesmerising fashion. Despite it being an aesthetic victory and a photographers dream, Pogba's effort sailed just wide of the post.
Milan's first chance, came from an over commitment in attacking areas by La Vecchia Signora. Whilst the Juve wing backs pushed forward, Milan, and in particular, Abate, were allowed exploit the pockets of space left. After a clever dart to the near post, Robinho met a low cross from Abate; but due an acute angle, the Brazilian was unable to steer the ball towards the Juventus net.
The first half was rather uninspiring, due to the simultaneous lack of conviction and intensity shown from both teams. Even though Juventus started the game with nearly half a million central midfielders, Milan were allowed to stroll around the Juventus stadium in a distressingly comfortable fashion. Allegri's tactic off pressing high up the field during goal kicks was relatively successful; but had the attacking trident of Milan put this tactic into practice more purposefully, they could have distressed the aortic systems of the Juventini much more frequently.
The second half began in as a mundane fashion as the first ended. It was evident that the only means of prompting any form of emotion from the home or away fans would be a horrendous error; which indeed occurred to gift Juventus the lead. After a beautifully weighted ball over the top, Abate let the ball go over his head and straight to the foot of Asamoah. Due his right back's incompetance, Amelia was forced to come off his goal line and attempt, unsuccessfully, to take the ball from the toe of Juve's Ghanian wing back, and the referee promptly pointed to the spot. The resulting penalty was caressed into the top right corner by Arturo Vidal, who gave the substitute goalkeeper little chance of redeeming himself.
Vidal's goal heralded a period of dominance from Juventus. This dominance culminated in chances for Mirko Vucinic, whose shot from inside the penalty was well blocked by Mexes, and Bonucci, whose Marko Van Bastan mimic proved to be somewhat of a parody as it was comfortably saved by Amelia.
Milan, knowing that a defeat would blow the race for Champions League wide open, began to push forward. However, the service from wide areas so easily exploited at times, was too erratic for Pazzini to really trouble Gianluigi Buffon. The closest Milan came to drawing level, was two long range efforts from the much improved Ricardo Montolivo, which were routinely caught by the Juve keeper.
Although not an awe inspiring performance, Juventus did what was neccesary to defeat a rather lack lustre A.C. Milan. Antonio Conte's team are now just four points away from a second consecutive Scudetto.