Fiorentina paid emotional tributes to their captain Davide Astori before and during their 1-0 Serie A win over Benevento at Stadio Artemio Franchi.
The Florence club were playing their first game since Astori died suddenly in his sleep at the team hotel last week.
Fans unveiled banners in Astori’s honour and players warmed up in shirts bearing his name and number, while the match was halted in the 13th minute for a sustained round of applause.
Vitor Hugo headed the only goal of the game in the 25th minute and celebrated by hugging coach Stefano Pioli before raising a shirt picturing Astori to the crowd.
In the race for the title Juventus returned to first place – at least until Inter Milan host Napoli later on Sunday – thanks to their 2-0 home victory against Udinese.
Following their dramatic Wembley comeback against Tottenham in the Champions League, spirits were high and Paulo Dybala opened the scoring by fizzing a free-kick into the top corner in the 20th minute.
Gonzalo Higuain missed a 38th-minute penalty that had been won by Dybala but the latter cheered up his fellow Argentinian by sweeping in his assist for a second goal shortly after the break.
Juventus sealed a crucial win in the context of the Serie A title race.
Lazio suffered a setback in their bid to gatecrash the top three despite Ciro Immobile pouncing in stoppage time to salvage a point from a 2-2 draw at Cagliari.
The Sardinians scored first as Leonardo Pavoletti latched on to the loose ball when Han Kwang-song headed against the crossbar.
Luca Ceppitelli, in trying to stop Lucas Leiva shooting, put through his own net to level the scores.
When Luiz Felipe impeded Pavoletti in the Lazio box midway through the second half the video assistant referee was called upon and after a review a penalty was awarded, with Nicolo Barella putting it away.
Cagliari were seconds away from a first win in four outings when Immobile bagged his 24th goal of the season by converting Felipe Anderson’s pass.
Marten de Roon’s late strike at Bologna gave Atalanta reason to believe they can still qualify for Europe as the Bergamo side won 1-0 to consolidate eighth place.
There was a surprise twist in the battle to avoid the drop as lowly Crotone thumped high-flying Sampdoria 4-1 with Marcello Trotta scoring twice.
The former Fulham striker powered the ball beyond Emiliano Viviano for his sixth-minute opener yet the Samp goalkeeper was very briefly celebrating when he denied Trotta from the spot in the 23rd minute.
However, Adrian Stoian doubled Crotone’s lead by following up the rebound and Trotta made it 3-0 with a tap-in not long before the interval.
Substitute Duvan Zapata gave the visitors to the Stadio Ezio Scida some hope in the 70th minute but Viviano rubber-stamped a poor day in the nets with an unfortunate own goal in the final minute.
Sassuolo and SPAL both remain in the relegation mire after contesting a 1-1 draw in Reggio Emilia.
It could have been worse for 18th-placed SPAL though as, after Khouma Babacar cancelled out Mirco Antenucci’s opener for the Ferraresi, Matteo Politano missed a penalty for Sassuolo.
