Juventus back on top of Serie A after beating 10-man Catania

Catania got off to the perfect start when Pablo Barrientos gave it a surprise lead with less than four minutes on the clock. Andrea Pirlo leveled with a free kick in the 22nd minute, for his first goal since joining from Milan in the summer.

Juventus was the only team still unbeaten in Serie A, and visiting Catania's chances diminished when Marco Motta, who arrived on loan from Juventus in January, received a second yellow and was sent off.

Giorgio Chiellini put Juve in front in the 74th and Fabio Quagliarella sealed the result 10 minutes from time.

Juventus was two points clear of AC Milan, having now played the same amount of games as the defending champion. Milan visits struggling Cesena on Sunday, before hosting Juventus in a mouthwatering clash next weekend.

“We've never gone behind at home, but we were mature and did well to play with a focused game, giving the best response to the fans and showing that this is a strong team,” Juventus coach Antonio Conte said. “We are a great group and you could see that in the celebrations as well.

“We knew that we were playing a strong and motivated team in Catania, which showed its strengths tonight. It has very interesting players and that shows the club is doing really good work.”

Catania gave Juventus an early warning with a long-range effort from Sergio Almiron which Gianluigi Buffon did well to parry to safety.

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