The Albany Gazette - Juve beat Genoa to close in on Serie A top four

Taking advantage of fourth-placed Como's goalless daw at Udinese earlier in the day, Juve notched the three points in Turin thanks to Gleison Bremer's fourth-minute header and a 17th-minute strike from the ever-reliable Weston McKennie.

Luciano Spalletti was hired to get Juve back into the Champions League and the former Italy coach could yet do that after a fifth straight match without defeat.

But the home fans had to thank goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio for a superb double save which stopped spirited Genoa from getting back in the game, the Italy international first pawing away Aaron Martin's penalty and then keeping out Vitinha's volley.

Those stops helped put some distance between fifth-placed Juve and Roma, who trail Spalletti's team by three points in sixth after being thumped 5-2 at Inter Milan on Sunday.

Juve are also four points ahead of Atalanta, 3-0 winners at Lecce, ahead of Saturday's clash between the pair in Bergamo, with Como hosting league leaders Inter the following day.

Bremer's deflected effort was his third of the season and came after he netted his first Brazil goal, in a 2-1 defeat to France, with just over two months to go until the World Cup.

American McKennie also scored for his country during the international break, and his give and go with Francisco Conceicao ended with the midfielder's ninth goal in all competitions for Juve this season.

Genoa suffered no real damage to their bid to avoid relegation as Daniele De Rossi's team sit six points above Lecce, who are in the bottom three after a heavy defeat.

Goals from Giorgio Scalvini, Lecce old boy Nikola Krstovic and Giacomo Raspadori gave seventh-placed Atalanta a straightforward win at the Stadio Via del mare.

Lecce were booed off by disgruntled fans after a defeat which left their team level on 27 points with Cremonese, who sit just outside the drop zone thanks to their superior head-to-head record.

(R.White--TAG)