Juventus leave it late to secure three valuable points at Cagliari

source: edition.cnn.com

Defending Serie A champions Juventus strengthened their grip on this season's title with a last-gasp 3-1 win at Cagliari Friday.

Injury time goals from Alessandro Matri and Mirko Vucinic secured an unlikely three points for the leaders, who had trailed until the 75th minute to a Mauricio Pinilla penalty for the home side early in the first half.

The late scoring burst takes them ten points clear of Inter Milan with 44 points after 18 games.

Inter can cut the gap with a victory at home to Genoa Saturday.

Pinilla scored on 16 minutes after Arturo Vidal had fouled Marco Sau in the penalty area, but Cagliari were reduced to ten men with half an hour left when Davide Astori saw red for a second yellow card.

Matri, playing against his old club, leveled and added another in the second minute of injury time.

Vucinic then sealed the three points.

"I have waited for this moment for a long time," Matri told AFP. He had not scored since the end of September.

Pescara beat Cagliari 2-1 in the other game played Friday to move clear of the relegation zone.

In France, big spending Paris Saint Germain scored a 3-0 win at Brest to extend their advantage over Lyon and Marseille to three points.

Victory for Carlo Ancelotti's team guaranteed they will go into the winter break as Ligue 1 leaders.

Brest were reduced to ten men when Abdou Sissoko was red carded after half an hour, but it took until the 55th minute for PSG to make the breakthrough.

Swedish international star Zlatan Ibahimovic found the target for his 18th league goal of the season.

Substitute Kevin Gameiro added the second before Bernard Mendy then put through his own goal in the second minute of stoppage time.

Lyon host Nice and Marseille are at home to Saint Etienne in weekend fixtures as they attempt to draw level on points again at the top.

I n La Liga, Atletico Madrid kept up their pursuit of Barcelona with a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo in the Vicente Calderon.

Adrian scored the only goal late in the second half after an exchange of passes with Radamel Falcao.

Barcelona lead the standings by six points ahead of their trip to Valladolid Saturday.

In the other match played ahead, Valencia beat Getafe 4-2.

source: edition.cnn.com