Juventus returned to winning ways in Serie A after Dusan Vlahovic scored two and assisted the other in a comfortable 3-0 victory at Salernitana on Tuesday.
Massimiliano Allegri's side, seemingly shaken by their 15-point deduction, had not won any of their previous three league games but responded with a dominant performance at Stadio Arechi.
Vlahovic's 28th-minute penalty set the visiting Bianconeri on their way before the Serbia international fortuitously assisted compatriot Filip Kostic on the stroke of half-time.
Star man Vlahovic added his second after 47 minutes as victory moved a resurgent Juve up to 10th, albeit some 13 points behind fourth-placed Lazio.
Vlahovic headed an inviting Mattia De Sciglio cross over in an otherwise uneventful opening, but the striker made amends just before the half-hour mark.
A needless foul inside the area from Juve loanee Hans Nicolussi on Fabio Miretti offered the visitors the chance of the breakthrough, and Vlahovic powered in from the penalty spot with the help of Guillermo Ochoa's left post.
Vlahovic then wastefully dragged wide and made a similar connection with a poor right-footed volley, only for the latter miscued attempt to find Kostic, who poked in the second goal at the back post.
A delicate Nicolo Fagioli throughball teed up Vlahovic to add to his tally after the interval, the striker slotting a cool left-footed finish low past the onrushing Ochoa.
Angel Di Maria's fizzing strike cannoned against the crossbar and Moise Kean was denied by Ochoa's left post as Juve returned to form in emphatic fashion.
What does it mean? Juve back on track after Allegri warning
A 5-1 thrashing by runaways leaders Napoli and a 2-0 surprise defeat to Monza in Juve's last three league games, either side of a 3-3 draw with Atalanta, had caused Allegri some concern.
With Juve docked 15 points following an investigation into past transfer dealings, Allegri warned the Bianconeri they must first hit the 40-point mark to stave off an unlikely relegation.
Juve took a step towards doing that with an assured performance to move onto 26 points, though they have significant ground to make up for a place in Europe, trailing Italy's top six by 12.
Vlahovic's Salernitana hot streak continues
Vlahovic has now scored five goals in four league matches against Salernitana, with a brace for Fiorentina and three strikes for new club Juve, including his double in this game.
The first-half strike was Vlahovic's 14th goal from the spot from 15 attempts in Serie A – the best success rate (93 per cent) among players to take 15 or more penalties in the competition since his debut in 2018.
Concern for Miretti
Promising young midfielder Miretti won the penalty for Vlahovic's opener before leaving the field on a stretcher after 40 minutes with what appeared a concerning lower-leg injury.
The 19-year-old, who has enjoyed his breakthrough season for Juve this term, suffered the injury in a tackle with Boulaye Dia, and Allegri will be hoping the blow was not as bad as it first appeared.
What's next?
Juve are at home to Fiorentina on Sunday, while Salernitana visit Hellas Verona the following day.
Barcelona must 'work hard' to achieve Champions League glory, says Flick
Hansi Flick tempered expectations of Barcelona's chances of silverware in his first season in charge ahead of facing Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.
Flick has led Barca to 13 wins from 15 games in all competitions, scoring 50 goals in those games while conceding just 14 times.
Some standout matches have seen Barca thrash Clasico rivals Real Madrid 4-0 while also brushing aside Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League in their last match in the competition.
While Flick understood the fans' excitement after those results, he urged his side to keep their feet on the ground with a long season still in front of them.
"We have to work hard. There are many teams who dream of the same thing, of winning (the Champions League)," Flick said.
"For the moment, we're going to focus on working hard and grinding out, so then we'll see what happens. We have to focus on our goal which is to keep improving.
"A team's form fluctuates a lot over a long season. The important thing is to focus on winning the next match. Sure, after the match against Bayern everything changed.
"But we are just starting. The important thing is how we finish the season. We could say that our goal is to be in the top eight."
Flick, however, insisted he was not surprised by his side's impressive start to the campaign despite enduring a trophyless season last term.
Barca are nine points clear at the top of LaLiga and 11th in the Champions League table ahead of facing Red Star, who are without a win from their three games so far.
"Before we came here we analysed the whole team, every player. We realised that there was very good quality overall," Flick said.
"Another thing to point out is that we wanted to improve how we defend and did small changes in the way we play. The players liked it and they are happy working on it.
"The players play a big role, they are helping us a lot.
"The start was already good on the pre-season in North American and the players are very happy, although there are still many things to improve."
And Barca will be confident of keeping their fine form going against a side that has lost 81% of their matches in the Champions League (P21 W2 D2 L17).
This is the first European meeting between the two sides since October 1996 in the Cup Winners’ Cup, a 1-1 draw with Giovanni cancelling out a Zoran Jovicic's opener for the Serbians.
PSV 4-0 Girona: Dutch side get first win of Champions League
PSV Eindhoven won their first match in the Champions League this season as they thrashed Girona 4-0 at the Philips Stadion on Tuesday.
Ryan Flamingo got the scoring under way after 16 minutes as he turned Malik Tillman's long throw home, despite replays showing that it should have been disallowed as Tillman's foot was over the byline before releasing the ball.
Tillman got himself on the scoresheet 17 minutes later with a fine finish after he arribed into the box unopposed.
Things went from bad to worth for Girona after half-time, with Arnau Martinez receiving a red card 10 minutes into the second half for a second bookable offence.
From then, it was all one-way traffic and PSV might feel aggrieved not to have won by a bigger margin given their glut of second-half chances.
Ismael Saibari was next to put the ball in the back of the net, although his effort was ruled out for a foul in the build-up following a VAR review.
Johan Bakayoko did get PSV's third with seven minutes to go, before a Ladislav Krejci own goal wrapped up the rout in the 88th minute. The result leaves Girona 26th in the table on three points, while PSV are 19th with five points.
Odegaard returns to full Arsenal training ahead of Inter tie
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has returned to full training after spending two months out of action with an ankle injury.
Odegaard has missed 12 matches for the Gunners in all competitions after damaging his ankle ligaments against Austria while on international duty with Norway in September.
The 25-year-old midfielder trained with Arsenal ahead of their trip to the San Siro to face Inter in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Mikel Arteta's side have, however, struggled in Odegaard's absence recently, failing to win any of their last three games in the Premier League.
In the seven games that Odegaard has missed in the top-flight, Arsenal's win percentage dropped from 66.7% to 42.9% after going unbeaten in their first three games.
The Gunners have also averaged 1.6 points per game without Odegaard, compared to 2.3 points won with the Norwegian in their ranks.
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