Llorente scores late winner as Juve extend lead

Fernando Llorente scored in injury time to give Juventus a 1-0 win against Udinese and extend their lead at the top of the Serie A table to three points.

With Roma only picking up a point at Atalanta earlier in the day, the scene was set for the Italian champions to capitalise on their slip-up.

Yet the Bianconeri looked to be enduring a similar evening to the capital club as they struggled to break down a resilient Udinese defence and find an elusive winner.

Andrea Pirlo was forced off with an injury early on in the first half and Antonio Conte’s side missed his passing and creativity for the remainder of the game.

However, Llorente popped up in the dying seconds to break Udinese hearts as he got his head onto Stephan Lichtsteiner's shot to divert the ball into the back of the net and give Juve their sixth straight league win.

The home side started the game brightly with Claudio Marchisio doing well to tee up Carlos Tevez on the edge of the box, only for Zeljko Brkic to get a touch to his shot that seemed destined for the top corner.

Just minutes later, Juve were dealt the blow of losing Pirlo to injury following Andrea Lazzari’s challenge. The home side had a more than adequate replacement to bring on in Paul Pogba, however, he struggled to match the heights of some of his recent performances.

Despite losing Pirlo, though, the Bianconeri continued to attack, and Tevez came close once again, only for Danilo to get a vital touch on to divert his effort wide of the post.

As the first half went on Juve saw more and more of the ball, but they struggled to break down Udinese’s defence, being limited to shots from distance.

It was the away side, though, who soon had a chance of their own as Antonio Di Natale tried to chip Gianluigi Buffon after stealing the ball from Leonardo Bonucci. The goalkeeper, however, got his fingertips to the ball and Andrea Barzagli was able to clear off the line.

Udinese took heart from that chance and came out fighting after the break. Buffon was unable to deal with a cross into the box but got back up to make a superb stop to deny a close-range rebound from Di Natale.

Di Natale was soon involved once again as he laid the ball into Andrea Lazzari’s path, with the midfielder firing an effort at goal from distance that led to another fine save from Buffon.

Juventus, who had been struggling to enforce themselves properly on the second half, soon had a flurry of late chances, with Tevez and Fabio Quagliarella both bringing saves out of Brkic, while Llorente had a header cleared off the line by Allan.

Lichtsteiner also saw his long-range strike whistle past the post, and at this point it looked the Bianconeri would have to settle for a point.

Llorente and Juventus would have the last laugh, however, as the striker capitalised on some poor defending from Udinese to head home from just yards out following Lichtsteiner's strike.