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Roma keep little dream alive
Roma kept up the pressure on leaders AC Milan after trouncing Inter 4-1 at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday night. Roma, who had three first-half goals ruled out, took the lead through Antonio Cassano on the stroke of half-time before a brace from Alessandro Mancini and a penalty from Francesco Totti after the break secured the points.
Roma's victory means they stay within five points of Milan, who produced a superb attacking performance to defeat Sampdoria 3-1 and set themselves up perfectly for Tuesday night's crucial Champions League tie with Sparta Prague. Despite resting top scorer Andriy Shevchenko, Milan were full of ideas going forward and deservedly took the lead through Andrea Pirlo's terrific strike from 25 yards.
With Lazio's match at Bologna postponed due to heavy snow, Roma starting later and Juventus and Parma having played on Saturday, Udinese were the highest-placed team in action on Sunday afternoon after Milan. But Luciano Spalletti's side did their bid for a UEFA Cup place no favours as they could only draw 1-1 with lowly Perugia. Vincenzo Iaquinta put the home side ahead following a howler by Zeljko Kalac, but Marco Di Loreto equalised to keep Perugia's hopes of avoiding relegation intact. Ancona are virtually resigned to Serie B football next season - they have yet to win a league game this campaign and are 16 points adrift of safety following their 1-1 draw with Reggina. Veteran striker Maurizio Ganz put them ahead but, after David Di Michele had equalised for the visitors, he was later sent off. Empoli produced a spirited display to hold on to a 0-0 draw at Chievo despite the dismissal of Stefano Lucchini at the end of the first half. And Lecce's excellent recent run was halted somewhat as they could do no better than a goalless draw at home to Siena in a tight relegation tussle. The Tuscans will be heartened at keeping out Uruguayan striker Javier Chevanton and return north with a well-earned point.
On Saturday Juventus fought back from two goals down to eventually run out 3-2 victors against Brescia. If Juventus manage to reel AC Milan back in and claim a third successive Serie A title then it is likely they will look back on the match with Brescia as a pivotal moment in their season. Trailing 2-0 at half-time and with Milan already six points clear at the summit, Juve were in danger of waving goodbye to their title challenge for this season. But a stunning second-half recovery, capped by Pavel Nedved's 74th-minute winner, brought the defending champions to within three points of the leaders and heaped the pressure back on Milan ahead of their game against Sampdoria on Sunday. Brescia could hardly have enjoyed a better start to the game with Stefano Mauri firing them ahead after just three minutes. Gilberto Martinez made a run down the right before crossing a high ball towards team-mates Roberto Baggio and Andrea Caracciolo in the area. Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon tried to intercept the cross before it could reach the duo but he succeeded only in diverting it into the path of Mauri who, from 10 yards out, had the simple task of tapping the ball into an empty net. Former Juve favourite Baggio then set Caracciolo up to double the lead seven minutes before the break and Brescia were in wonderland. Juve were simply left wondering what had gone wrong. Bianconeri coach Marcello Lippi made just the one substitution at the break and it was a seemingly innocuous one, brining on defender Paolo Montero for Gianluca Pessotto. But whatever the highly-decorated coach said to his troops during the interval certainly worked as Juve were back on level terms within nine minutes of the re-start. They got a foothold back into the match in the 52nd minute when referee Paolo Bertini awarded them a penalty after Nedved went down under a challenge from Luigi Di Biagio inside the area. What followed must have put Juve striker Fabrizio Miccoli under immense pressure when he was ordered to re-take his spot-kick not once, not twice but three times after it was deemed that players had encroached into the area. But each time Miccoli held his nerve and found the back of the net until the official was happy that the goal was a legitimate one. That incident probably affected Brescia more than it did the Juve players, though, because within minutes they had conceded a second goal. Miccoli was again involved, sending in a cross to the centre of the area where Marco Di Vaio was on hand to control the ball before turning and firing low into the net with his right foot. Having looked dead and buried at the break, Juve were now firing on all cylinders and it was no surprise to see them pop up with a winner. Luca Castellazzi in the home goal failed to get sufficient distance on his punched clearance and Nedved, waiting some 14 yards out from goal, collected the ball before lashing it into the back of the Brescia net to snatch a vital victory from the jaws of defeat.
Saturday's other match saw Modena forced to settle for a 2-2 draw after Parma twice battled back from a goal down in the Emilian derby match on Saturday. Parma will be disappointed at failing to stake a claim for a Champions League spot but in truth they were fortunate to get something out of the game against a team that also needs points to avoid being sucked into relegation trouble. Matteo Pivotto gave Modena a 43rd-minute lead only for Alberto Gilardino to equalise from the penalty spot in first half stoppage-time. Maurizio Domizzi restored Modena's lead on the hour mark but then Matteo Ferrari scored again for Parma three minutes before the final whistle. |
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