A second-half goal from captain Alessandro Del Piero gave Juventus a hard fought 1-0 win over Udinese in Serie A action on Sunday. Udinese played the majority of the game with ten men after Ghana international Sulley Muntari was sent-off for a careless tackle on Pavel Nedved. The result tightened Juve's grip on the Serie A summit with 62 points, eight ahead of Inter Milan who beat Chievo 1-0. Del Piero was on target in the 70th minute when he met Gianluca Zambrotta's cross with a first-time volley at the near post. Elsewhere, Inter kept the pressure on Juventus with a 1-0 win over Chievo, courtesy of Julio Cruz goal. In other matches, Cagliari thrashed Empoli 4-1, Treviso held Sampdoria to a 1-1 draw, Fiorentina edged past Lecce with a 1-0 win while Livorno and Messina and Reggina and Palermo settled for 2-2 draws respectively.