Juventus beats Bologna 2-0, moves 6 points clear

BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — Juventus moved provisionally six points clear at the top of Serie A with a 2-0 win over Bologna on Friday despite missing injured playmaker Andrea Pirlo.

Midfielder Arturo Vidal extended his run of good form by scoring in the 12th minute with a shot from the edge of the box and defender Giorgio Chiellini sealed the result with a header from a corner in the 90th.

Vidal scored a hat trick against Copenhagen in the Champions League last week and had his contract with Juventus extended this week to 2017.

Pirlo is out for 40 days with damaged right knee ligaments.

Forward Carlos Tevez only came on for the final 20 minutes as Juve coach Antonio Conte looked ahead to Tuesday's visit to Galatasaray in the Champions League.

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon preserved the win with several key saves for Juve's seventh consecutive clean sheet in the Italian league.

"We could have closed it out earlier but the important thing was to keep this streak going," Chiellini said.

Bologna forward Alessandro Diamanti threatened with two long shots in the first half and Argentine forward Jonathan Cristaldo nearly equalized after sprinting past Juve's defense in the 78th but his sharply angled shot went just wide.

Juventus forward Mirko Vucinic came off with an apparent left knee injury in the 38th and was replaced by Fernando Llorente, who was denied from close range in the 62nd.

Second-place Roma hosts Fiorentina on Sunday.