Juventus gets back to winning ways with Chievo defeat

Turin, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Serie A leaders Juventus got back to winning ways on Sunday after earning a 3-1 victory over Chievo at Juventus Stadium.

The defending Italian champions hit a bit of a stumbling block last week when they squandered a two-goal lead against Hellas Verona and were forced to settle for a draw.

But this time out, the champions made sure they got off to a flying start as Kwadwo Asamoah smashed one into the back of the net in the 17th minute before Claudio Marchisio made it 2-0 just prior to the half-hour mark.

Chievo pulled a goal back six minutes into the second half through a Martin Caceres own goal, but Fernando Llorente made sure Juventus took all three points when he buried a third goal in the 58th minute.

The result sees Juve maintain its nine-point advantage over second-place Roma at the top of the Serie A table, while Chievo remains in the bottom three with just 18 points.

Elsewhere in Italy on Sunday, Mariano Izco netted in the first minute of play to go with goal from Nicolas Spolli and Gino Peruzzi as Catania rolled to a 3-1 win over Lazio at the Stadio Angelo Massimino, while Parma scored nine minutes into its match and eased to a 4-0 thrashing of Atalanta.

Federico Ceccherini and Marco Benassi were both sent off inside the final five minutes of play for Livorno, but goals from Emerson and Paulo Betanin were enough to send the club to a 2-1 win over Cagliari.

Dusan Basta and Bruno powered Udinese to a quick 2-0 lead over Genoa, but Moussa Konate pulled one back before Luis Muriel converted a penalty early in the second half for a 3-1 Udinese lead. But it was a late brace from Alberto Gilardino that rescued a point for Genoa in a 3-3 stalemate.

Blerim Dzemaili and Lorenzo Insigne scored on each side of the intermission as Napoli claimed a 2-0 victory against Sassuolo, while Roma got two goals from Mattia Destro in a 3-0 victory over Sampdoria.