A double by Alvaro Morata fired Juventus to a battling 3-1 win at Sampdoria on Saturday, with Massimiliano Allegri's fourth-placed side now four points behind Serie A leaders AC Milan.
An own goal from Maya Yoshida and Morata's sweetly-struck penalty helped Juve storm into a 2-0 first-half lead, with Sampdoria no match for the visitors in the opening period.
However, the home side took the game to Juve in the second half, winning a penalty after Adrien Rabiot's handball, but goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny pulled off a stunning stop.
Substitute Abdelhamid Sabiri's deflected free-kick did get Sampdoria back into the contest six minutes from time, but Juve's Spanish striker Morata arrived right on cue at the back post four minutes later to put the game to bed.
The victory moved the Turin side to 56 points from 29 matches, a point behind Napoli, who play on Sunday, in third and four off Milan, who host Empoli later on Saturday.
Sampdoria's third defeat in their last four league games means they remain embroiled in a relegation battle in 16th, four points above the bottom three.
