TURIN: Juventus’ Carlos Tevez celebrates after scoring during the Serie A match against Empoli at the Juventus Stadium.—AP

TURIN (Italy): Carlos Tevez hit his 17th goal of the campaign and Roberto Pereyra added a late second as Juventus beat Empoli 2-0 in Turin on Saturday to restore their 14-point lead on AS Roma in Serie A.

Roma had earlier ended a four-month winless streak at home with a 1-0 victory over Napoli but Juve’s 21st win of the season restored their sizeable advantage and underlined their status as champions in waiting.

Juventus took the lead against Empoli in disputed circumstances from an indirect free kick after Daniele Rugani was adjudged to have made a backpass to goalkeeper Luigi Sepe and Tevez blasted a fierce free kick from inside the area two minutes before the break.

“I knew I had to shoot it high,” Tevez told reporters.

“I can’t remember ever scoring a similar goal.”

Massimiliano Allegri’s side were in little danger for the remainder but wrapped up the points in extra-time when Pereyra tap-ped in a rebound after Tevez’s effort was parried by Sepe.

Tevez now leads Serie A on goals with 17 so far, one more than AC Milan’s Jeremy Menez, and the Argentinian said there will be no let up.

“Roma are still alive, we saw that before kick-off,” he said. We’re not mathematically safe, so we have to keep winning.”

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2015

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