Dybala hat-trick moves Juve closer to Serie A glory

The Turin giants moved a step closer to a seventh straight Italian title, four days before they travel to Real Madrid needing to overturn a 3-0 deficit to reach the Champions League semi-finals.

Juventus now lead second-placed Napoli, who travel to Chievo on Sunday, by seven points.

Malian forward Cheick Diabate scored a brace to pull Benevento back into the game twice but the rock-bottom side fell to their 26th defeat in 31 games.

"Congratulations to the lads because today was important to win after the defeat against Real Madrid," said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.

"There are seven games left and today it was too important.

"The feeling was that we were at risk, the same feeling I had against AC Milan (last week) when we conceded many shots for the first time in months."

"We've got to take every last drop of energy we've got left to go for the Scudetto, Italian Cup and of course the second leg in Madrid. It's not easy to keep winning at that pace," added Allegri.

Dybala -- who will miss the trip to Madrid after being red-carded in the first leg -- opened the scoring after quarter of an hour and got the second just before the break when he slotted in a penalty awarded after consultation with the video assistant referee.

The 24-year-old completed his treble with a penalty awarded after 74 minutes when Gonzalo Higuain was brought down in the box, before Douglas Costa added the fourth eight minutes from time with a magnificent curling effort.

Argentine Dybala who now has 25 goals in all competitions this season.