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Old boy Dybala stars as Juventus goes 10 points clear

Giorgio Perottino / Reuters

Turin, Italy - Juventus went 10 points clear at the top of Serie A on Friday with a 4-1 win over struggling Palermo in a perfectly timed boost ahead of its Champions League trip to FC Porto next week.

Former Palermo star Paulo Dybala played a pivotal role as the Argentina international pushed his former employer closer to the drop by scoring twice, creating another and also seeing a free-kick come back off the woodwork.

Palermo started the day eight points from safety and was under the cosh almost from the start on Friday.

Dybala, who moved to Turin after three seasons at Palermo in 2015, was just centimetres from the opener after only five minutes when he clipped the post with a left-footed free-kick.

But the Sicilians' resistance didn't last as Claudio Marchisio put Juventus ahead in the 13th minute, finding the net after goalkeeper Josip Posavec could only parry Gonzalo Higuain's close-range shot.

At the other end, veteran 'keeper Gianluigi Buffon got down low to keep out Palermo's top scorer Ilija Nestorovski's attempt from a tight angle.

It was a brief scare for the champion who went into the break 2-0 ahead when Dybala curled in a picture-perfect free-kick, this time to the left of Posavec's despairing dive and into the top corner.

Higuain added a third and his 19th league goal of the season in the 63rd minute, latching onto Dybala's delicately weighted pass between two defenders.

Higuain repaid the favour to his international teammate one minute from time with a cheeky back-heel allowing Dybala to slot the ball home.

Palermo scored an injury-time consolation through an Ivaylo Chochev header but Juventus will go to Porto for Wednesday's Champions League last-16, first-leg clash on a fresh wave of confidence.

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