Juventus 3-0 Sampdoria: I Bianconeri Strengthen Grip on Serie A Title With Comfortable Victory

Juventus bounced back from their midweek Champions League disappointment to stretch their lead at the top of the Serie A to six points after they cruised past Sampdoria 3-0 at the Allianz Stadium.

Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring for the hosts just before half time when he volleyed home 

Douglas Costa's cross from five yards out. 

Centre back Benedikt Howedes doubled the Old Lady's lead in the 60th minute with a powerful header before Sami Khedira made sure of the victory with a sweeping finish in the 75th minute. 

I Bianconeri carved out their first opportunity of the game in the third minute. Matuidi's cross from the left looped over to the back post and an unmarked Cuadrado, he shinned a volley towards goal from 10 yards out but his effort deflected off Ferrari and behind for a corner. 

The hosts continued to pile on the early pressure and were inches away from taking the lead in the seventh minute. Cuadrado's whipped cross from the right just evaded the sliding reaches of Mandzukic at the front post. The ball continued on to Matuidi at the far post but the French international's subsequent low cross was hoofed clear. 

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Despite their early dominance, Juve were struggling to create any clear-cut opportunities and nearly fell behind in the 21st minute when Sampdoria were afforded the best chance of the opening exchanges. 

A corner from the right floated over the six-yard box to a completely unmarked Quagliarella at the far post, the striker tried to sneak in a header from a tight angle but Buffon palmed the ball behind for another corner which came to nothing. 

As the half wore on, both teams exchanged periods of possession in which neither side looked threatening. Pjanic was forced off due to injury in the 43rd minute with Douglas Costa coming on in his place.

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The substitute made an immediate impact moments later when his superb cross from the left curled around the Sampdoria defence to Mandzukic, the Croatian international got ahead of his marker to volley the ball into the roof of the net from five yards out for the opening goal of the game. 

The visitors made one change at the start of the second half; 35-year-old Fabio Quagliarella was replaced by the more youthful Dawid Kownacki in attack. 

Kownacki should have made an immediate impact but squandered a glorious opportunity to equalise just seconds after the restart. The 21-year-old did well initially to rob Chiellini of possession on the edge of the Juve box, but dragged his subsequent low shot wide of the right-hand post from 12 yards out. 

Kownacki was made to regret that miss even more 15 minutes later when Juve doubled their lead thanks to an unlikely source. 

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Khedira started the move with a simple pass into Costa on the left edge of the penalty area, the Brazilian's lofted cross into the box was met by the onrushing Howedes who sent a powerful diving header past a rooted Viviano from six yards out for his first Serie A goal of the season. 

I Bianconeri made sure of all three points in the 75th minute. The impressive Costa escaped a number of challenges on the right side of the box before he squared the ball to Khedira, the German international took a touch and calmly swept a shot across Viviano and into the bottom right corner of the goal. 

Costa was close to claiming what would have been a deserved goal in the 88th minute, but his low shot from just outside the box crept inches wide of the right-hand post. The visitors had one last chance before the final whistle when Zapata latched onto Howedes' attempted header back to Buffon, but his shot from just yards out was straight at the keeper from a tight angle on the left.