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Serie A round-up: Juventus close in on fifth straight title after late win

Juventus' forward Mario Mandzukic from Croatia (R) celebrates after scoring ne
Image: Mario Mandzukic netted for Juventus, who could wrap up the title on Monday.

Juventus could be crowned Serie A champions for the fifth year in a row on Monday after emerging victorious from a gritty encounter with Fiorentina.

A 2-1 victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi pushed Juve 12 points clear of second-placed Napoli and Gianluigi Buffon once again played the role of saviour as he saved Nikola Kalinic's last-gasp penalty to secure all three points.

Juve were made to battle hard for the vital win - Kalinic had responded to Mario Mandzukic's opening rocket before substitute Alvaro Morata managed to stab home the winner.

Sassuolo maintained their pursuit of a Europa League place by beating Torino 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico and are now just one point behind sixth-placed AC Milan. 

Nicola Sansone's second-minute headed opener was cancelled out by Bruno Peres, who struck the killer blow at the end of a swift Torino counter-attack.

But the second half belonged to Sassuolo, with Federico Peluso nodding the ball home in the 75th minute before former Brentford man Marcello Trotta beat the offside trap to score deep into stoppage time.

Palermo scored a crucial away win over relegation rivals Frosinone, winning 2-0 thanks to a pair of second-half strikes.

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Alberto Gilardino broke the deadlock in the 56th minute, with Aleksandar Trajkovski finally sealing the points with an injury-time strike.

Alberto Gilardino of Palermo celebrates after scoring the equalising goal
Image: Alberto Gilardino helped Palermo to a vital 2-0 victory.

Victory saw the Rosanero swap places with their hosts in the bottom three, Frosinone dropping to 19th, a point behind Palermo.

Ten-man Atalanta held firm to ensure Marco Borriello's goal earned all three points against Chievo in Bergamo.

Former West Ham striker Borriello scored the only goal of a 1-0 home victory by converting Alessandro Diamanti's shot against the bar in the 55th minute.

Atalanta lost Alejandro Gomez to a red card 20 minutes later but try as they might Chievo could not force home an equaliser.

Bologna pulled out of a nosedive towards the relegation zone by beating Genoa 2-0, with goals from Emanuele Giaccherini and Sergio Floccari seeing them reach the security of 40 points.

Sunderland loanee Giaccherini opened the scoring after 12 minutes as he steered Franco Brienza's clever through-ball beyond Eugenio Lamanna.

Bologna's forward from Italy Emanuele Giaccherini celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A football
Image: Sunderland loanee Emanuele Giaccherini helped loan club Bologna to a 2-0 win

Bologna doubled their lead in the In the 63rd minute, capitalising on some penalty-box confusion when Cristian Ansaldi's clearance hit Floccari and went in.

Sampdoria also reached 40 points for the season as they came from behind to beat Lazio 2-1, with Emiliano Viviano saving a first-half penalty.

Filip Djordjevic's third-minute strike meant Samp faced an uphill battle to win and Fernando made life easier for them by equalising in the 20th minute.

Lazio won a penalty just before half-time but Antonio Candreva was denied by former Arsenal stopper Viviano and in the 79th minute, Modibo Diakite was there to divert the ball past Federico Marchetti when Matias Silvestre took aim.

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