Higuain fires Juventus past Cagliari, Roma beat Crotone

Higuain, signed for 90 million euros ($95.61 million) last year, proved his worth against Cagliari as he settled a tight contest to take his goal tally to 18 for the season. Serie A's joint-top scorer fired Juventus ahead in the 37th minute when he was picked out by a sumptuous Claudio Marchisio pass and slotted past the advancing Rafael. Higuain added a second two minutes after the break by slamming home to round off a searing counter attack. "Higuain is an extraordinary finisher but we always knew that," Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri told Sky Italia. "The really impressive thing is how hard he works for the team." Cagliari, disciplined and organised during the first half, wilted after Juventus took a stranglehold on the match and had Nicolo Barella sent off following a second yellow card in the 67th minute. "I want a spectacular Juventus," Allegri added. "When you play football you need to be spectacular. "Cagliari went down to 10 men and we should have run riot but instead we were too hasty and didn't make the correct decisions. We need to improve." Juventus' players celebrate at the end of the match against Cagliari. REUTERS The victory extended Juve's winning streak to five matches. They have 60 points, seven ahead of Roma, who had earlier made light of a first-half missed penalty. Nainggolan lashed past Alex Cordaz from a tight angle in the 40th minute after being picked out by Mohamed Salah as the visitors edged a first half in which they had only hinted at their wealth of attacking quality. Salah then squared for Dzeko, who had sent a hesitant first-half penalty wide, for a simple tap-in in the 77th minute as Roma overtook Napoli, 2-0 victors against Genoa on Friday, into second. Inter Milan moved up to 45 points in fourth after seeing off Empoli 2-0 with goals from Eder and Antonio Candreva. Surprise package Atalanta, also on 45, remain firmly in the hunt for European qualification after their 3-1 win at struggling Palermo. Bottom club Pescara trailed 5-0 after 61 minutes at Torino but scored three times in 10 minutes after the break. They were unable to salvage a draw though and remain hopelessly adrift with only nine points from 24 matches.RESULTS:Cagliari 0 Juventus 2 Higuain 37,47Sampdoria 3  Muriel 82(pen), Schick 83, Mbaye 88(og)  Bologna 1 Dzemaili 18Inter Milan 2 Eder 14, Candreva 54  Empoli 0Torino 5 Falque 2, Ajeti 10, Belotti 15,61, Ljajic 53  Pescara 3 Ajeti 73(og), Benali 75,83Sassuolo 1 Matri 24  Chievo Verona 3  Inglese 39,56,67Palermo 1 Chochev 41  Atalanta 3 Conti 19,  Gomez 26, Cristante 78Crotone 0  AS Roma 2 Nainggolan 40, Dzeko 77 Standings P W D L F A Pts1 Juventus 24 20 0 4 49 16 602 AS Roma 24 17 2 5 50 21 533 Napoli 24 15 6 3 57 26 514 Inter Milan 24 14 3 7 39 24 455 Atalanta 24 14 3 7 39 26 456 Lazio 23 13 4 6 41 27 437 AC Milan 23 12 4 7 33 27 408 Fiorentina 24 11 7 6 41 33 409 Torino 24 9 8 7 45 36 3510 Sampdoria 24 9 6 9 29 30 33