ROME: Juventus clinched a record sixth straight Serie A title with a 3-0 win over relegation-threatened Crotone in the penultimate round on Sunday.

Mario Mandzukic gave Juve the lead 12 minutes in by redirecting a cross from Juan Cuadrado, Paulo Dybala scored with a precise free kick shortly before the break and Alex Sandro added another with a header near the end.

Juve moved to 88 points, four clear of second-placed AS Roma who had kept their title hopes alive on Saturday after twice coming from behind to win 5-3 at Chievo Verona and five clear of Napoli who had a 4-1 home win over Fiorentina on the same day.

Since Serie A was founded in 1929, no club had previously won more than five straight titles.

“We’ve written one of the greatest pages in the book of football history,” said Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon.

“Winning is never easy,” Buffon added. “Beyond what people say, staying at the top is synonymous with sacrifice on everyone’s part. ... If you want to always win matches, you’ve got to always have your head in focus and your legs prepared.”

It’s the second title in five days for Juventus after a 2-0 win over Lazio in the Italian Cup final on Wednesday.

The Bianconeri have a chance to complete the treble with a victory over Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo in the Champions League final on June 3.

Juve also added to their record number of Serie A titles, with their 33rd.

Players dumped shaving cream over the head of manager Massimiliano Allegri at the final whistle, then put on celebratory T-shirts with a ‘6’ on them.

Crotone remained third from the bottom, one point behind Empoli in the battle to avoid being the final club relegated.

Empoli were beaten 1-0 at home by fifth-placed Atalanta, who got an early goal from Alejandro “Papu” Gomez.

Genoa removed themselves from the relegation chances with a 2-1 win over Torino, getting goals from Luca Rigoni and Giovanni Simeone the son of Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone.

In the final round, Crotone host fourth-placed Lazio and Empoli visit already relegated Palermo.

AC Milan ended a run of three seasons without European play by beating Bologna 3-0 to secure sixth place and a spot in the Europa League playoffs.

Gerard Deulofeu scored with a volley in the 69th, Keisuke Honda added a free kick four minutes later and Gianluca Lapadula redirected a cross from Mati Fernandez in added time.

In other matches, Sassuolo routed Cagliari 6-2 with goals from Francesco Magnanelli, Domenico Berardi, Matteo Politano, Stefano Sensi, Pietro Iemmello (penalty) and Alessandro Matri and Udinese drew 1-1 with Sampdoria.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2017