Motta's job at Juventus 'safe' despite Fiorentina thumping

Thiago Motta's job at Juventus is safe for now but he remains under immense pressure to turn around results after a 3-0 thumping at rivals Fiorentina.

The Turin giants barely laid a glove on eighth-placed Fiorentina who ran riot in front of delighted supporters - including iconic former striker Gabriel Batistuta - at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

'La Viola were by two goals within three minutes as Gosens and former Juventus' Mandragora fired in the 15th and 18th minute respectively. Gudmundsson completed the rout early in the second period, with Fagioli, also former 'Bianconeri', providing two assists.

The nature of Sunday's defeat, and the fact it came after last weekend's four-goal home hammering by Atalanta, has left Motta in a precarious position, even if Juve's sporting director said they were focussed on a "long-term project".

"Right now we need to be united because you get out of a crisis by sticking together. We're obviously disappointed, we put in two bad performances in what has been an up-and-down season," said Cristiano Giuntoli to 'Sky'.

"But we're convinced that we can get out of this all together. To make matters worse for Motta, his old team Bologna have moved one point above his current club into fourth place after a thumping 5-0 win over sixth-placed Lazio, who are only a point behind Juve.