Italy: Juventus extends lead at top, Catania beats Udinese

Claudio Marchisio scored one goal and set up the other in Juventus' win against Bologna on Saturday.

Claudio Villa/Getty Images

MILAN (AP) -Juventus marched on toward a 29th Serie A title by winning 2-0 at Bologna on Saturday to provisionally extend its lead to 12 points.

Juventus broke the deadlock in the 64th minute when Claudio Marchisio set up Mirko Vucinic. The forward, who had his back to goal, swiveled and fired the ball into the net.

Vucinic turned provider 10 minutes later, threading a ball through for Marchisio to beat the offside trap and double Juve's advantage.

Bologna had won only won one of its past 22 meetings against Juventus but it provided Antonio Conte's men with a real scare early on. Alberto Gilardino raced through on goal but goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon rushed out of the area and timed his tackle to perfection.

Gilardino had a goal ruled out for offside.

In the day's other game in Serie A, Catania beat injury-hit Udinese 3-1 to boost its chances of qualifying for Europe.

Alejandro Gomez broke the deadlock four minutes after halftime following a smart one-two with Lucas Castro.

Catania doubled its lead in the 22nd as Castro forced his way past two defenders before slotting it through for Pablo Barrientos, whose great cross was headed in by Gomez.

Free-kick specialist Francesco Lodi all but sealed the match four minutes later when his effort was deflected over Udinese goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic.

Udinese's Luis Muriel grabbed a consolation 10 minutes from time.

Catania move provisionally into seventh, four points above nine-place Udinese.

Udinese was without the injured Antonio Di Natale, Dusan Basta, Giampiero Pinzi, Andrea Lazzari and Giovanni Pasquale, while Maurizio Domizzi, Maicosuel and Thomas Heurtaux were suspended.