Juventus and Roma remain perfect atop Serie A

MILAN (AP) — Roma and Juventus stayed perfect in the Serie A as they beat Hellas Verona and Atalanta respectively on Saturday.

Mattia Destro scored a stunning goal from near the halfway line to help Roma to a 2-0 home win, while Carlos Tevez scored twice in Juventus' 3-0 victory.

"It was important to win," Destro said. "I'd been thinking about a goal like this for a long time, because it can happen that the goalkeeper is off his line. I gave it a go today and it went well."

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon also saved a penalty as Juventus extended its record to become the first team in Serie A history to win its opening five matches without conceding a goal.

Juventus and Roma are the only Italian topflight teams with a 100 percent record, a timely boost ahead of their second Champions League group matches.

Roma travels to Manchester City on Tuesday, and Juventus visits Atletico Madrid the following day. They then face off at Juventus Stadium on Sunday.

"Gigi is a legend and the whole world knows it," Tevez said. "After that we had to react and score straight away, which thankfully we did.

"It is too early to say that it's a two-horse race. It is a big game (next Sunday), after that we will know a bit more, but it's still very early."

It was Francesco Totti's 38th birthday and there was a party atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico with messages from Roma fans to their talismanic captain shown on the giant screens before kickoff.

Totti almost celebrated with a goal on the half hour mark as he slid in on a loose ball, but Frederik Sorensen got back and cleared his effort off the line with the help of an upright.

He went close on several other occasions, including immediately after the interval only to be denied by 19-year-old goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini, who fingertipped Totti's effort over the bar.

Substitute Alessandro Florenzi broke the deadlock in the 75th, pouncing onto a slack pass and firing into the bottom right corner, and Destro sealed the points four minutes from time.

The Italy forward controlled Morgan De Sanctis' goal kick before smacking it into the back of the net on the half volley from more than 40 yards.

In Bergamo, Tevez opened the scoring in the 35th as he was first to a loose ball in the area following Stephan Lichtsteiner's pull back.

Atalanta wasted a golden opportunity nearly an hour in when it was awarded a penalty after Giorgio Chiellini's clumsy challenge on Salvatore Molina.

However, Buffon palmed away German Denis' spot kick and moments later Tevez drilled the ball into the bottom corner at the other end for his sixth goal of the season.

Juventus has not conceded a goal since April 28 — a run of 10 matches in all competitions.

Alvaro Morata sealed the result late on, heading in Roberto Pereyra's cross for his first Juventus goal.