Paul Pogba winner sends Juventus 11 points clear

.The Bianconeri had the chance to increase the gap from Roma to 11 points, but were fresh from a shock 2-1 Coppa Italia semi-final defeat to Fiorentina, their first home competitive loss since Bayern Munich in April 2013.

Gigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo, Martin Caceres, Kwadwo Asamoah and Romulo missed out, while the Neroverdi had Alessandro Gazzola suspended, Luca Antei, Paolo Cannavaro, Gianluca Pegolo and Emanuele Terranova sidelined. Sime Vrsaljko returned after a month out.

This fixture had only been played once, ending 4-0, but Sassuolo did hold Juve to a draw earlier this season.

Claudio Marchisio and Carlos Tevez turned over the bar, as did Giorgio Chiellini from a corner. Tevez forced Andrea Consigli to beat away a sudden snapshot from distance.

A poor Leonardo Bonucci back-pass was intercepted, so Tevez took one for the team with a bookable offence to stop Simone Zaza going on goal. Nicola Sansone curled the resulting free kick into Marco Storari’s arms.

Alvaro Morata drilled across the face of goal at the end of a solo run down the left, while Arturo Vidal’s effort was deflected for a corner, but Juventus fans jeered at the half-time whistle.

Paul Pogba had been very quiet until his snapshot was fingertipped round the base of the near post by Consigli.

Tevez hit a half-volley that bent inches past the far stick and Morata blasted over. Consigli scrambled across to palm away a Leonardo Bonucci half-volley from almost 30 metres that threatened to bring the stadium down.

Fernando Llorente spun on the spot, but hit a weak finish at the goalkeeper. Pogba was booked for a high foot and will be suspended against Palermo.

Just as Juve seemed to be running out of ideas, they broke through with seven minutes to go. Simone Pepe went on the counter and set up Pogba, who saw the bounce and smashed a half-volley from just outside the box. The Pepe pass was probably aiming for Tevez down the left flank, but the Frenchman intercepted it.

Max Allegri also gave Andrea Barzagli his season debut after that recurring Achilles heel problem.

It's a fourth consecutive defeat for Sassuolo, but far from a vintage performance from the Bianconeri, who were made to work very hard indeed for these points.