Juventus dominated the dramatic Derby della Mole and Gigi Buffon made history, but Sami Khedira saw red and Torino had a good goal disallowed.
The Bianconeri crashed out of the Champions League on Wednesday, as having been 2-0 up at Bayern Munich they eventually capitulated 4-2 in extra time. Giorgio Chiellini, Claudio Marchisio and Martin Caceres missed out, while Paulo Dybala returned to the start after missing out in Munich. Toro had lost 12 of their last 14 competitive games with Juve, save for a 0-0 draw and April 2015’s 2-1 victory.
Gigi Buffon made history at the fourth minute, breaking Sebastiano Rossi’s all-time Serie A record of 929 minutes without conceding a goal. It was set with Milan in 1993-94.
Buffon protected his record by getting down to smother a Marco Benassi shot from the edge of the box, but Juve realised Dybala was still suffering from that muscular problem that ruled him out against Bayern when he collapsed while taking a free kick. La Joya had to make way for Alvaro Morata.
However, Juve recovered quickly from that blow, as Paul Pogba curled a magnificent free kick over the wall and into the near top corner.
Pogba tried from another free kick, this time Daniele Padelli palmed it round the near post. The Granata defence parted through the middle like the Red Sea, allowing Sami Khedira to waltz through and sweep past the on-rushing Padelli for Juve’s second.
Toro also had injury problems, losing Ciro Immobile to a thigh issue, but the second half started on a high for the hosts. Alex Sandro lunged into a mistimed tackle on Bruno Peres and Andrea Belotti converted the penalty, rolling it to the right of static Buffon.
This meant Buffon’s all-time Serie A record will stand at 974 minutes without conceding a goal.
Torino thought they had equalised when Maxi Lopez blasted in an angled drive on 58 minutes, but it was incorrectly disallowed. Replays show he was onside when running on to the end of a Bruno Peres through ball.
Juve survived that scare and restored their two-goal advantage, as Pogba brilliantly turned between two defenders and chipped up a pass for Morata, who controlled with his right foot and turned in with the left from a tight angle.
Daniele Rugani was decisive to stop Maxi Lopez getting Toro back into the game once more with practically a goal-line clearance.
The Bianconeri put the result under lock and key when Pogba’s free kick hit the wall and his wayward follow-up turned into an assist for Morata to redirect from eight yards. Everyone looked across to the linesman, but Afriyie Acquah was keeping him level.
Khedira saw red late on for dissent, as clearly he said something that the referee did not appreciate.
