Juventus beat self-destructing Chievo to go top of Serie A

Milan: Juventus went top of Serie A on Saturday, at least for 16 hours, with a 2-0 win at Chievo, who had only themselves to blame after two players got themselves sent off.

Samuel Bastien was first to press the self-destruct button when he was given a second yellow card in the 38th minute for hauling Kwadwo Asamoah back by his shirt under the referee’s nose, three minutes after being booked for fouling the same player.

Fabrizio Cacciatore followed on the hour mark for making a handcuffs gesture -- similar to the one Jose Mourinho made as Inter coach in 2010 -- to suggest he was being victimised as he protested a refereeing decision.

With the Flying Donkeys down to nine players, Juventus finally went ahead in the 67th minute when Federico Bernardeschi pulled the ball back for Sami Khedira to rifle home.

Gonzalo Higuain made sure of the three points by heading in from Douglas Costa’s cross with two minutes left.

Juventus, chasing a seventh successive league title, went top with 56 points from 22 games, two ahead of Napoli who play at home to Bologna on Sunday.

Atalanta continued their impressive season with a 3-0 win at Sassuolo which lifted them to seventh.

Andrea Masiello headed them in front on the half-hour before Bryan Cristante and Remo Freuler added further goals in the last 10 minutes.

Cristante also had a goal disallowed for offside in the 65th minute after the referee reviewed it using the video assistant referee (VAR).