Record defending champions Juventus defeated Cagliari 1-0 to trail Serie A football league leaders Napoli by a point, while Atalanta continued their impressive show with a 2-1 victory which pushed AS Roma to the fifth spot.
Federico Bernardeschi's 74th-minute strike gave Juventus three points away against Cagliari at the Sardegna Arena on Saturday night. Juventus took an eight-point lead over third-placed Inter Milan, who drew Fiorentina 1-1 on Friday night.
Massimiliano Allegri registered his 100th Serie A win as Juventus coach and 200th as a coach in the Italian football league.
In Rome's Olympic Stadium, Andreas Cornelius (14th minute) and Marten De Roon (19th) scored for Atalanta, who were reduced to 10 players due to the latter's red card.
Edin Dzeko (56th) pulled one back for the hosts but they couldn't force an equaliser, giving the visitors a 2-1 victory.
Following the loss, Roma remained on 39 points -- one behind Lazio, who crushed SPAL 5-2 in the evening.
Roma's loss and Inter Milan's draw meant that the Serie A battle is going to be a tussle between Napoli, who defeated Verona 2-0, and Juventus.
The Turin giants got a physically difficult game against Cagliari, who pressurised with their pressing game.
Juventus were unlucky too at the beginning. Paulo Dybala struck the crossbar with a fierce free-kick in the ninth minute before right winger Bernardeschi drove to the far post.
The Bianconeri even had the ball in the back of the net on 21 minutes when Medhi Benatia poked in from a free-kick, but the Moroccan was correctly flagged for offside.
The visitors were very nearly made to pay for their near misses in the 26th minute. Cagliari striker Leonardo Pavoletti's header off a corner was kept away by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who made a superb save low down to his right before punching clear with his other glove.
The hosts looked to be growing in confidence, with Andrea Barzagli needed to make a last-ditch challenge on Diego Farias in the box and the Rossoblù forward forced Szczesny into another stunning save. This time the Pole somehow got a hand to Farias' ferocious shot, tipping it on to the near post.
Early in the second half, Paulo Dybala and Sami Khedira were forced to leave the field after picking up knocks.
But Juventus got ahead in the 74th minute when Douglas Costa dribbled past two markers down the right before playing the perfect cross into the box for Bernardeschi to stab home from point-blank range.
Cagliari then unsuccessfully appealed for a penalty after Bernardeschi appeared to have handled the ball.
It was almost the final throw of the dice of Cagliari as they lost 1-2 and remained on the 16th spot.
"After we made it 1-0, we could have been more careful but the important thing is we won, staying on Napoli's tail and breaking away from Roma and Inter," Allegri was quoted as saying by Juventus' website.
Meanwhile, Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco minced no words in criticising his players after a 1-2 defeat.
Cornelius held off defender Federico Fazio to fire home from a tight angle from the right. The second goal arrived when Alejandro ;Papu' Gomez's byline cut back was met with a thunderous right foot from Dutchman De Roon.
Dzeko scored off a quick counter-attack of the side, which was missing key players like Daniele De Rossi and Radja Nainggolan.
"We started well in the first ten minutes, but after Atalanta scored we fell apart and became nervous," Di Francesco told the club's website. "We lacked character when we had the ball, we wanted to get rid of it straight away. This must not happen because we are Roma.
"I wasn't happy with the team in the first half at all: they didn't do what we've been working on. We've found it far too difficult to score goals recently."
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