Juventus restore four-point lead
(sportinglife.com)
Updated: 2004-12-06 09:27

Juventus restored their four-point lead at the top of Serie A on Sunday by coming from behind to beat Lazio at the Delle Alpi.

The pressure was on the Bianconeri after AC Milan closed the gap at the top of the table to just a point on Saturday with a stunning late 2-1 win at Parma.

Juventus' Zlatan Ibrahimovic, left,of Sweden ,celebrates after scoring his side 2-1 goal, during the Italian first division soccer match between Juventus and Lazio, at the Turin delle Alpi stadium, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2004. Juventus won 2-1 and leads the Italian League. [AP]

But they responded well to going behind to Goran Pandev's 11th-minute strike and hit back to win thanks to goals from Ruben Olivera and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Third-placed Udinese survived the dismissal of Giampiero Pinzi as struggling Siena gave them a real scare at the Friuli stadium.

Antonio Di Natale's 16th-minute strike ultimately proved enough to snatch all three points for Luciano Spalletti's high-flying outfit, but Pinzi's last-minute second booking gave Siena a chance of snatching a point.

They came close to doing so but Stefano Argilli somehow blazed over when clean through in injury time.

Veteran striker Gianfranco Zola notched a brace as Cagliari fired four past Chievo to extend their unbeaten run to five matches.

The 38-year-old put the hosts in control with two goals - one from the penalty spot - in the space of five first-half minutes. Antonio Langella then added a third seconds before the half-time whistle.

Although Chievo pulled a goal back 13 minutes into the second half thanks to Sergio Pellissier's strike, the home side restored their three-goal cushion just a minute later through Nelson Abeijon.

Carvalho de Oliveira Amauri added some respectability to the scoreline with a consolation for Chievo two minutes from time.

Reggina's recent revival came to an abrupt halt as Brescia moved away from the lower reaches of Serie A with an impressive win at the Stadio Oreste Granillo.

First-half goals from Marius Stankevicius and Gilberto Martinez put the visitors in control and Andrea Caracciolo sealed the win after Marco Zamboni had reduced the arrears.

Lecce ended their winless streak with a stylish 3-2 victory against Livorno who twice led but ended with nothing to show for their efforts at the Stadio Via del Mare.

Luca Vigiani scored the opener for the visitors from Leghorn just before the half-hour mark and then nine minutes later Erminio Rullo equalised.

Almost immediately Tomas Danelivicius restored Livorno's lead which they successfully defended until the interval.

In the second half Samuele Dalla Bona equalised from the penalty spot for Lecce and then Guillermo Giacomazzi came up with the winner three minutes later.

Enzo Maresca netted the only goal as Fiorentina beat Bologna while Atalanta fell to Franco Brienza's solitary strike at Palermo.

In the evening game, Roma hit back to salvage a 1-1 draw against Sampdoria at the Stadio Olimpico.

Biagio Pagano opened the scoring in a drab encounter after 81 minutes.

Francesco Totti equalised three minutes later though after Fabio Bazzani had been adjudged to have held the shirt of Traianos Dellas.

The Genoa-based club could have stolen it with the final kick of the match but Francesco Flachi's shot crashed back off the bar.

On Saturday, Milan had kept the pressure on Juventus with a 2-1 win at Parma but they needed two goals in the last 11 minutes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against their struggling opponents.

When Alberto Gilardino gave Parma a 67th-minute lead it looked as though it would be an unhappy return to the Stadio Ennio Tardini for Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti who was formerly in charge of Parma.

But Brazilian Kaka restored parity with 11 minutes remaining before Italian international Andrea Pirlo secured victory for the Rossoneri in the final minute.

There was still time for Tomasson to crash a shot off the post, while Gilardino could have earned Parma a point but he skied the ball over the bar.

Meanwhile, Milan's city rivals Inter ended a bizarre streak of draws with a 5-0 victory over Messina.

After drawing 11 of their opening 13 Serie A games, Inter's irrepressible Brazilian striker Adriano ensured that only one side would be taking points in this game by scoring a hat-trick in the first 36 minutes.

Inter then saw goalkeeper Francesco Toldo sent off four minutes into the second half, but the goals continued to arrive for 10-man Inter.

A Dimitris Eleftheropoulos own goal six minutes later and another strike for Italy's Christian Vieri five minutes from time completed the rout.

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