TURIN, Dec 12: Gonzalo Higuain hit his 19th Serie A brace as Juventus beat Torino 3-1on Sunday.
Scoring his last league goal in a 2-1 win over Napoli at the end of October, Juve fans had every right to be concerned about Higuain’s consistency following his 90-million-euro move to Turin in the summer.
But the Argentine netted in Juve’s 2-0 Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb in midweek and he confirmed his return to form with a well-taken double that left England goalkeeper Joe Hart with no chance.
“It was a great derby that we won thanks to some late changes,” said coach Massimiliano Allegri, whose side were given a spur by the late introduction of Paulo Dybala and Miralem Pjanic, the Bosnian hitting Juve’s third at the death.
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Hart needed to act quickly to stop Mario Mandzukic turning in from close range, but hosts Torino settled quickly and were 1-0 up on the quarter hour when Andrea Belotti rose unchallenged to head Daniele Baselli’s cross from deep on the right past Gianluigi Buffon and into the far bottom corner.
Higuain soon had the visitors level when he powered clear on an accidental flick by Mandzukic to fire past Hart on 28 minutes.
Torino resumed in positive fashion after the interval, Iago Falque unleashing a bullet from the edge of the area that Mandzukic blocked.
But the hosts failed to make the most of several promising counters and were left dazzled by Dybala when he replaced Mandzukic with 20 minutes remaining.
The Stadio Olimpico was stunned when Higuain held off defender Antonio Barreca as he controlled a long ball, swivelled and beat Hart with a powerful strike from the edge of the area on 82 minutes.
Dybala had returned from a six-week injury lay-off in midweek and showed some great footwork to send Higuain through into the box. Hart produced two quickfire saves before Pjanic fired home the rebound to wrap up the points in stoppage time.
Elsewhere, Croatia midfielder Marcelo Brozovic hit a brace either side of half time as Inter got back to winning ways with a 2-0 San Siro win over Genoa.
Inter moved up to eighth but are still 15 points behind Juve as they chase a coveted place in Europe, and at risk of being overtaken by Fiorentina if they account for Sassuolo in Monday’s other game.
