Ghana midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah won the penalty that gave Juventus their 1-0 win over AC Milan on Sunday as they took a significant step towards a second successive Serie A title.
Arturo Vidal scored the only goal of a desperately underwhelming encounter, the Chile international converting from the penalty spot after Kwadwo Asamoah had been felled in the area by Marco Amelia shortly after halftime.
With Juventus in possession of an eight-point cushion at the summit of Serie A, the game was arguably of greater importance to Milan, particularly with fourth-placed Fiorentina having defeated Torino earlier in the day to draw to within a point of the Rossoneri.
Ignazio Abate and Amelia were both caught out by a seemingly innocuous diagonal in behind the Milan defense.
Abate left it for his goalkeeper, who never had any chance of getting there in time and was powerless to prevent himself from clattering into the alert Asamoah, who had stolen in behind a hesitant Abate before cleverly nicking the ball past Amelia.
Vidal buried the resulting spot kick, firing high to Amelia's left to change the entire complexion of the game.
Juvetus to coast to a victory that leaves the team requiring just four more points to clinch the title.
Cruising toward its second consecutive title, Juve remained 11 points ahead of second-place Napoli, which needed a last-minute winner to beat visiting Cagliari.
Milan, which is third, dropped seven points behind Napoli and is now only one point in front of Fiorentina, which beat Torino 4-3.
The top two finishers gain direct entry into the Champions League, while the third-place team enters the final playoff round.
Five rounds remain in the Italian league.