Juventus could be crowned Serie A champions for the fifth year in a row on Monday after emerging victorious from a gritty encounter with Fiorentina.
A 2-1 victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi pushed Juve 12 points clear ahead of second-placed Napoli, who must triumph at Roma to retain any mathematical chance of catching the leaders, although this Scudetto is realistically beyond their grasp.
Gianluigi Buffon once again played the role of saviour for the Bianconeri with a double save from Nikola Kalinic's last-gasp penalty to secure all three points.
Juve were certainly made to battle hard for the vital win -- Kalinic had responded to Mario Mandzukic's opening rocket before substitute Alvaro Morata managed to stab home the winner.
Professionalism will forbid Juve from celebrating yet another title win on Sunday evening, but come mid-afternoon on Liberation Day there will almost certainly be exuberant festivities on the streets of Turin.
Sassuolo maintained their pursuit of a Europa League place by beating Torino 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico.
The Neroverdi are now just one point behind sixth-placed AC Milan after goals from Nicola Sansone, Federico Peluso and Marcello Trotta delivered a 13th win of the season.
Sansone's second-minute headed opener was cancelled out by Bruno Peres, who struck the crucial blow at the end of a swift Torino counter-attack.
But the second half belonged to Sassuolo, with Peluso nodding the ball home in the 75th minute before Trotta, formerly of Brentford, beat the offside trap to score deep into stoppage time.
Sassuolo will be in the Europa League if they finish sixth and Juventus beat Milan in the Coppa Italia final.
Emiliano Viviano saved a first-half penalty as Sampdoria rallied from behind to beat Lazio 2-1 and reach 40 points for the season.
Filip Djordjevic's third-minute strike meant Samp faced an uphill battle to win at their own Stadio Luigi Ferraris and Fernando made life easier for them by equalising in the 20th minute.
Lazio won a penalty just before half-time but Antonio Candreva was denied by Viviano.
In the 79th minute Modibo Diakite was in the right place at the right time to divert the ball past Federico Marchetti when Matias Silvestre took aim.
Ten-man Atalanta held firm to ensure Marco Borriello's goal earned a 1-0 win and all three points against Chievo in Bergamo.
After Valter Birsa and Lucas Castro went close for the Flying Donkeys in the first half, Borriello scored the only goal of a 1-0 home victory by converting Alessandro Diamanti's shot against the bar in the 55th minute.
Atalanta lost Alejandro Gomez to a red card 20 minutes later but try as they might Chievo could not force home an equaliser.
The Nerazzurri are now nine points clear of the relegation zone with only three games remaining.
Palermo earned a crucial away win over relegation rivals Frosinone, winning 2-0 thanks to a pair of second-half strikes.
Alberto Gilardino broke the deadlock in the 56th minute, with Aleksandar Trajkovski finally sealing the points with an injury-time strike.
Victory saw the Rosanero swap places with their hosts in the bottom three, Frosinone dropping to 19th, a point behind Palermo.
Bologna pulled out of a nosedive towards the relegation zone by beating Genoa 2-0 at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.
A nine-game winless run had seen Roberto Donadoni's men tumble down the table and into 16th place but goals from Emanuele Giaccherini and Sergio Floccari saw Bologna reach the security of 40 points for the season.
On-loan Sunderland winger Giaccherini opened the scoring after 12 minutes as he steered Franco Brienza's clever through-ball beyond Eugenio Lamanna.
In the 63rd minute Bologna doubled up, the Rossoblu capitalising on some penalty-box confusion when Cristian Ansaldi's clearance hit Floccari and went in.