The Argentina striker provided a textbook finish in the 17th minute to put Juve ahead and cleverly assisted Federico Bernardeschi to double the host's just after the hour.

Manager Maurizio Sarri will have been delighted to see such an effective performance from Higuain, a player who was much maligned during a difficult 2018-2019 campaign. Although Juve rarely shifted through the gears, a fine outing was completed by Cristiano Ronaldo netting the third goal late on.

A win for Juve means they and Atletico Madrid each have four points from two Group D games and the Bianconeri can switch their focus to a domestic showdown with unbeaten Serie A rival Inter.

There was little goal threat from either side until Higuain opened the scoring in fine fashion.

Jonathan Tah failed to properly deal with Juan Cuadrado's forward punt and Higuain took a brilliant first touch before rifling low into the left corner from 20 yards.

Lukas Hradecky denied Higuain a second goal with a smart parry from the striker's bending effort from the left of the penalty area.

Ronaldo was largely quiet until a Cuadrado pass found its way to the Portugal star in the 57th minute, but he uncharacteristically shot straight at Hradecky.

Juve was celebrating again shortly after, however, as Higuain showed great feet and his centre was swept home by Bernardeschi.

Higuain should have had another assist when his low left-wing ball found a wide-open Ronaldo who again could only drill an effort against Hradecky.

It was a case of third time lucky, though, when Ronaldo drilled through Hradecky's legs after being teed up by Paulo Dybala to score against a 33rd different team in the Champions League - tying Raul's record - to round out the win.