Juventus 1-0 Inter: Cuadrado stunner gives Old Lady three points

The Colombia international scored the only goal of a tense clash to restore the Bianconeri's imposing lead at the Serie A summit

uventus moved six points clear at the top of Serie A as Juan Cuadrado's thunderbolt secured a nervy 1-0 home victory over Inter in the Derby d'Italia.

With title rivals Roma not playing until Tuesday, the champions took full advantage and Cuadrado's marvellous goal provided the perfect response to second-placed Napoli's 7-1 thrashing of Bologna earlier in the weekend.

Inter beat Juve at San Siro in September and Stefano Pioli's men came into this game with designs on a title fight after a run of seven consecutive league victories.

However, following Inter's Coppa Italia reverse against Lazio in midweek, Massimiliano Allegri's side also proved too strong after Cuadrado's first league goal of the season turned an entertaining contest in their favour at the end of the first half.

Paulo Dybala had clipped the woodwork early on, but the visitors were a match for the table-toppers until the Colombia international broke the deadlock in style.

Although Inter remained a threat after the break, Juve have now won 28 consecutive home league games and Inter's frustrations boiled over late on as Ivan Perisic was dismissed for dissent.

The game set off at a frantic pace and Samir Handanovic was soon forced into a strong stop from Dybala's acrobatic volley.

While the action swung from end to end, amid a flurry of heavy challenges and poor final balls, Dybala supplied another moment of quality as he curled delicately against the crossbar from 20 yards.

Roberto Gagliardini snatched at Inter's first chance, shooting over the crossbar, and then nodded straight at Gianluigi Buffon after Joao Mario had struck a low effort inches past the left-hand post.

Gonzalo Higuain uncharacteristically pulled an attempted finish wide at the other end, and Mario Mandzukic also headed across the face of goal, but the visitors enjoyed a dominant spell as Buffon parried from Perisic and watched Mauro Icardi narrowly miss the target.

However, Juve headed into the break in front as Cuadrado forged a breakthrough in the final minute of the half.