Higuain on the double

Gonzalo Higuain hit a brace either side of Paulo Dybala's first-half spot-kick as Juventus moved four points clear of Roma on Sunday with a comfortable 3-0 win over Bologna in Turin.

In their first competitive match since losing the Italian Super Cup to AC Milan in Doha days before Christmas, Juventus were without Gianluigi Buffon, Leonardo Bonucci, Dani Alves and Patrice Evra for the visit of Roberto Donadoni's men.

But Bologna's last win over Juve came in February 2011, and their hopes of launching any kind of challenge suffered a setback on seven minutes when Miralem Pjanic found Higuain with a searching pass that the Argentinian smashed on the volley past the hands of Antonio Mirante.

Dybala doubled Juve's lead minutes before half-time by firing low into the bottom corner after Stefano Sturaro had earned a generous penalty upon colliding with Marios Oikonomou on the edge of the area.

Higuain put the match beyond all reach when he rose unchallenged to nod past Mirante from Stephan Lichsteiner's perfectly-weighted cutback on 55 minutes after a great counter-attacking move that left Bologna in disarray.

Higuain's 12th goal of the season moved him to within two of league-leading compatriot Mauro Icardi of Inter Milan, but the Argentine moved from Napoli in the summer to win titles and is edging closer every week.

Juve's 15th win sees the champions four points ahead of Roma, and with a game in hand following the postponement of their league fixture against Crotone due to end-of-year Super Cup commitments.

Massimiliano Allegri's men will now focus on defending their Italian Cup trophy on Wednesday when they host high-flying Atalanta in Turin.

And in Serie A the Turin giants have reason to be watching Roma, Napoli, Lazio and AC Milan after they secured cagey but crucial wins at the weekend.

Only one goal behind league leader Icardi, Roma striker Edin Dzeko hit a series of blanks as the Giallorossi laboured to a 1-0 win at Genoa where Armando Izzo's disastrous first-half own goal secured the points.