A second half goal from summer signing Álvaro Morata led Juventus to claim a 3-1 win over Milan in Turin after first half goals from Tevez and Bonucci. Milan's winter acquisition Luca Antonelli equalized momentarily for the Rossoneri but the champions were just too strong for the Milanese outfit.
This win now leaves Juventus 10 points clear at the top with Roma still to play away tomorrow at Cagliari. Allegri's men fought hard for the win against Milan and that was epitomised by the excellent Claudio Marchisio on the evening, who tracked back for his team and worked tirelessly. Another player who worked hard was Morata, the Spaniard received a standing ovation for tracking back Cerci and drawing a foul all the way in his half and scored the crucial goal to seal the win. Allegri must now have to stick with Morata as Fernando Llorente has been underwhelming in recent weeks.
This is how the teams lined up:
Juventus's XI: Buffon; Padoin, Bonucci, Chiellini, Evra; Marchisio (Ogbonna 84), Pirlo, Pogba; Vidal; Tevez (Llorente 91), Morata
AC Milan's XI: Diego Lopez; Zaccardo (Rami 78), Alex, Paletta, Antonelli; Poli (Bonaventura 61), Essien, Muntari; Cerci, Menez (Pazzini 37), Honda
Ref: Antonio Damato
Goalscorers: Tevez 15', Bonucci 32' & Morata 56' (Juve) Antonelli 29' (Milan)
Venue: Juventus Stadium
Juve's fast start was rewarded after 15 minutes when the Argentine Carlos Tevez opened the scoring. Prior to that, Diego López stopped Álvaro Morata after just over a minute was played. Back to the goal, the ball was played to Tevez who galloped past Gabriel Paletta, who was making his Milan debut before eventually scoring. Replays show Tevez was indeed offside as initially it looked like Cristian Zaccardo played him on.
Milan could have been 2-0 down moments later but Sulley Muntari acrobatically cleared when Pirlo's free kick found it's way to Patrice Evra. Another Pirlo set play found Evra but this time the French International headed over.
Just as the clock was approaching the half-way mark the visitors equalized. Luca Antonelli scored a glancing header from a Alessio Cerci corner on his homecoming. The former Genoa captain came through Milan's set up but was sold after a few appearances.
Milan could only hold onto to the lead for a couple minutes however as Leonardo Bonucci restored the lead for the champions. After the stand in skipper for the evening Sulley Muntari was lackadaisical in possession leading Morata to take a strike which was superbly saved by the excellent Diego López. The resulting corner however was less so impressive. The Spanish shot stopper tried to collect the ball but couldn't Tevez found Bonucci, who fired in from six yards.
Giampaolo Pazzini replaced Milan's star man of the season Jérémy Ménez after the Frenchman was ill. The Italian striker got his first real chance of the game after the interval. He was one-on-one with veteran Gigi Buffon but the Juve legend came up trumps with a superb one-handed save to preserve the Bianconeri's lead.
After 65 minutes was played 2-1 became 3-1 as Morata got on the score sheet. The ex-Madridista knocked in the rebound from Claudio Marchisio's excellent snapshot after he hit the post. The Turin based player nearly made it four for Juventus but Diego López's outstretched leg denied the Italian midfielder from close range. The game petered away after that, the only other notably thing that occurred was Tevez's booking which rules him out of the game versus Cesena.