Mauro Camoranesi and Alessandro Del Piero scored for Juventus, which played the final 30 minutes with 10 men. "We were facing a great opponent but I think we were better than Napoli today," Juventus coach Didier Deschamps said.

Juventus, which was relegated and penalized nine points in the Italian match-fixing scandal, has 62 points. Genoa is second with 55 and Napoli third with 53.

While it seems certain Juventus will win the league and return to the Serie A, the team isn't relaxing yet.

"We have to maintain out focus until it becomes mathematic," midfielder Pavel Nedved said.

Camoranesi headed in a cross from Nedved by the far post in the 18th minute. Del Piero scored a league-leading 16th goal in the 50th with the outside of his right foot on a cross from Camoranesi.

Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio was given a straight red card for fouling Fabio Gatti in the 61st minute after the Napoli player had released the ball.

Napoli forward Roberto Sosa beat Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the 86th - but his shot hit the post.

Nedved was Juventus' best player and set up an unmarked Raffaele Palladino in front of goal in injury time, but Palladino shot wide.

Earlier, goalkeeper Gennaro Iezzo kept Napoli in the game with a series of tough saves.

Until this season, Juventus and Napoli had never met in the second division. Juventus is a 27-time Serie A champion and Diego Maradona led Napoli to the top division title in 1987 and 1990.

Juventus failed to beat Napoli in the clubs' first two meetings this season. They drew 1-1 in November and Napoli eliminated Juventus from the Italian Cup on penalties in August.

Stadio Olimpico was filled by a crowd of 21,804.

"It was a great atmosphere. The important thing is that the fans enjoyed themselves," Nedved said. "There's a lot of history. People have been talking about this game for a long time."  CanadianPress

In other Serie B catch-up games, Brescia defeated Triestina 2-0 thanks to goals from Mannini and Serafini while Pescara lost away in Treviso 1-0 with Russotto scoring the winner.

In Italian: Questa Juve è irresistibile

Camoranesi e Del Piero decidono la sfida con il Napoli, che centra due legni ma sprofonda a 9 punti dalla vetta. Straordinario Nedved. Scontri prima della partita: un accoltellato e altri due feriti.

Alla fuga della Juventus mancava solo un successo contro una delle grandi della B. Ora che il 2-0 sul Napoli (gol di Camoranesi e Del Piero) ha legittimato la superiorità dei bianconeri, il primo posto sembra davvero acquisito. E per la festa promozione, con il Genoa a -7 e il Napoli a -9, potrebbe essere questione di poche giornate. Un pomeriggio che sarebbe stato perfetto per l'Olimpico juventino.

Serie B Classifica

Gazzetta