Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 22nd goal for club and country this season as Juventus moved up to fourth after leaving it late to defeat plucky Sassuolo.
The visitors, who have been one of European football's surprise packages this season, were reduced to 10 men in first-half stoppage time when former West Ham midfielder Pedro Obiang scythed down Federico Chiesa.
Danilo then put Andrea Pirlo's men ahead five minutes after the restart, hammering a 30-yard thunderbolt into the bottom right-hand corner of Andrea Consigli's goal, with the flying Italian nowhere near it.