Juventus climb to top of Serie A with win over Lecce

LECCE, Italy :A second-half brace from Dusan Vlahovic and a late header from Gleison Bremer earned Juventus a 3-0 away win over Lecce on Sunday, lifting them to the top of Serie A.

Juve lead the standings with 52 points, one ahead of second-placed Inter Milan, who did not play a league match this weekend as they were participating in the Italian Supercup. Lecce are 14th with 21 points.

Juve are now unbeaten in the last 16 league matches.

Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri said his side are now starting to believe they could win the Scudetto for the first time since 2020.

"There is nothing impossible in football. We must have that belief in our minds that we can do something extraordinary and make the seemingly impossible become possible," he told DAZN.

"We must give our all, then if the others do better, you shake their hands and applaud them for their efforts."

Juve were close to gaining an early breakthrough but Weston McKennie's header was thwarted on the goal line by Lecce defender Nikola Krstovic.

After 59 minutes, Juve broke the deadlock when Vlahovic sent the ball bouncing into the far corner.

Nine minutes later, Vlahovic doubled Juve's lead by deflecting a header from McKennie that was already on course for the net.

"I am happy, especially as I got to help the team. I could not have scored those goals without the team, we hope to continue like this," Vlahovic said.

Bremer completed the win by leaping over the Lecce defence to head the ball into the net from a set piece five minutes from time.

Nicola Sansone came close to scoring a consolation goal for Lecce deep into stoppage time but Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny pulled off a one-handed save.