The Italian leaders got an early start to Matchweek 25 as they took down Palermo 4-1 to move 10 points clear at the top of the Serie A table.
Paulo Dybala, who is quickly becoming one of the most feared shadow strikers in Europe at just 23 years old, scored twice against his former team in the win. His first put Juventus 2-0 up five minutes before halftime as the Argentinian swung in a brilliant free-kick over the wall and into the top-right corner. The second developed from a beautiful long ball over the top gathered by Gonzalo Higuain, who held strong with a defender challenging and backheeled to a streaking Dybala for a clinical finish just one minute from the final whistle.
Juventus had gone in front just 13 minutes in thanks to an error by Palermo goalkeeper Josip Posavec. A head-on set-piece from a good distance out swung into the box, and Posavec hesitated before coming to collect, allowing Higuain to challenge. The ball popped free and Claudio Marchisio was there to tap it into the empty net.
The other Juventus goal came via Higuain on an expert chip just past the hour mark to make it 3-0, threaded in on goal by Dybala. Palermo got one three minutes into added time on a header by Ivaylo Chochev that lost the clean sheet and made Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon very, very angry.
The brace is Dybala’s second this year, and the goals are his sixth and seventh of the season. He also now has five assists to go with it, with three of those finding his countrymate Higuain on the end.