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Despite poor weather conditions, Juventus managed to put on a good show in front of their home fans as they easily dealt with Reggina, who shipped in four goals at the Olympic Stadium of Turin.

Veteran forward Alessandro Del Piero bagged his 250th Juventus goal and the Turin giants climbed up to second in the Serie A table with a 4-0 victory over Reggina in snowy Turin on Saturday.

Juventus welcomed a Reggina side coming off two consecutive victories against Udinese and Atalanta hoping to bounce back immediately from their 1-0 defeat to Inter last week. Coach Claudio Ranieri played with his usual 4-4-2 formation with captain Alessandro Del Piero and Amauri up front, while Reggina’s Nevio Orlandi opted for a 4-4-1-1 system with Franco Brienza behind Francesco Cozza in attack.

It was a sixth win in seven league games for Juve with 34-year-old Del Piero’s landmark goal coming from the penalty spot following strikes from Mauro Camoranesi, Amauri and Giorgio Chiellini.

The victory moved Juventus above AC Milan on goal difference, just three points behind leaders and champions Inter Milan but both Milanese giants play on Sunday.

The rain was pouring down at the Stadio Olimpico of Turin, but the home side nevertheless showed their intentions from the start as they tried to take control of the match.

Centre-back Chiellini and the evergreen Del Piero had both gone close for the hosts before Camoranesi gave them the lead on 28 minutes. With a lovely back-heel he found Pavel Nedved on the left side of the area, and the Czech star played it back to the unmarked Camoranesi, who who smashed the ball into the roof of the net from close range (29’).

Reggina almost responded immediately as defender Santos flicked a Franco Brienza free-kick onto the bar with Alex Manninger a helpless spectator in the Juve goal.

Aside from this big chance, Juve continued to dominate the first half, and in the 41st minute Nedved could easily have made it 2-0, as the ball found its way to him thanks to a dummy by Del Piero, but on his shot Campagnolo brilliantly managed to tip the ball away for a corner.

At half time, Ranieri predictably substituted Camoranesi, who had been unable to shrug off his shoulder pains in the first half, and brought on Marco Marchionni.

After a somewhat uneventful first quarter of an hour, the dominant home side added to their tally as Chiellini headed the ball in from close range on a free kick by Cristian Molinaro to make it 3-0 in the 62nd minute.

The match was completely over as a contest by this point, and the continuously pouring snow did not help the entertainment value much either.

Twenty minutes before the end, Ranieri decided to finally bring on starlet Sebastian Giovinco for Claudio Marchisio, and the youngster quickly left his mark on the game as he won a penalty just minutes after coming on as he was fouled by Bruno Cirillo. Captain Del Piero stepped up to take the spot-kick, and easily beat Campagnolo with a hard shot through the middle (74’).

In the final part of the game, with the pitch becoming heavier and heavier, and the ball becoming more and more difficult to see on the snow-covered pitch, it became increasingly difficult for the teams to keep the match interesting, as both sides struggled to create chances.

Juve were more than happy to hold on to their highly comfortable lead, and the match finished without any further emotions. The victory takes them to second place on 27 points, along with Milan, who take on Palermo today evening.

The heavy defeat was the fifth time in eight away matches this season that Reggina have lost by at least three goals and leaves them with by far the worst defensive record of the 20-team division.

Juve coach Claudio Ranieri was coy on challenging for the title despite having banished last week’s 1-0 defeat at Inter from memory.

“It wasn’t easy, they pressed a lot. They have a lot of ability, they’re a very good group,” he said of woeful Reggina.

“They play close together and are very dangerous on the counter-attack but the important thing was to upset their balance and we did that. Inter should win the title while we should improve on last season’s finish (third). We are more cohesive and have a year of work behind us and the new players have slipped well into the team.”

GOALS:

Juventus: 29’ Camoranesi, 44’ Amauri, 62’ Chiellini, 74′ Del Piero (pen.)

Line Up:

Juventus (4-4-2): Manninger; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro; Camoranesi (46’ Marchionni), Sissoko, Marchisio (70’ Giovinco), Nedved; Amauri (76’ Iaquinta), Del Piero.
Coach: Ranieri.

Reggina (4-4-1-1): Campagnolo; Cirillo, Valdez, Santos, Costa; Alvarez (50’ Corradi), Barreto, Carmona (58’ Tognozzi), Barillá; Brienza; Cozza (82’ Di Gennaro).
Coach: Orlandi.

REFEREE: Damato

BOOKED: Camoranesi (J); Valdez, Cozza, Santos (R)

Watch the goals and highlights of the match