Juventus have defeated Catania 1-0 away from home to maintain their unbeaten start to the Serie A.

However, the victory was steeped in controversy, as the hosts had a man sent off and a goal disallowed and the Bianconeri's winner had the hint of an offside.

The first real chance of the game at Stadio Angelo Massimino fell to Nicklas Bendtner after 21 minutes, when he headed Kwadwo Asamoah's cross into the ground and straight at Mariano Andujar.

Four minutes later Gonzalo Bergessio thought that he had opened for the scoring for Catania when he tapped into an open net after Francesco Lodi's glancing header had rebounded off the post.

However, his attempt was ruled out for offside, but television replays showed that it was an incorrect decision.

Juve could have added insult to injury soon after had Bendtner's header from an Andrea Pirlo free kick not come off the crossbar and gone in.

The visitors were dominating proceedings, as Paul Pogba's attempt went just over the crossbar and Mirko Vucinic had his close-range effort saved by Andujar.

Twelve minutes into the second half Juventus took the lead under controversial circumstances.

Vucinic released Bendtner, whose weak effort was saved by Andujar only for the ball to fall to Arturo Vidal, who slotted home with ease.

However, replays showed that Bendtner was in an offside position when he received the pass.

Vidal could have doubled Juve's lead seven minutes later had he been able to keep his shot on target.

Then in the 67th minute the game was effectively over as a contest when Giovanni Marchese was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Written by
Subhankar Mondal