Juventus close in on Italian title
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-16 08:50

Juventus closed in on its 28th Italian league title with a 2-0 win over Parma on Sunday, while AC Milan was held to a 2-2 tie by 10-man Lecce.

Juventus' forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring a goal against Parma during their Italian serie A football match Juventus-Parma at Delle Alpi stadium in Turin. Juventus moved to the brink of lifting their 28th Serie A title after they won at home to struggling Parma and championship rivals AC Milan were held away to Lecce. [Reuters]

Juventus leads defending champion Milan by five points with two rounds to play.

Alessandro Del Piero and Zlatan Ibrahimovic headed in first-half goals for Juventus.

Juventus, which had been tied with Milan, beat its rival 1-0 at San Siro last Sunday.

Milan, which plays Liverpool in the Champions League final May 25 in Istanbul, Turkey, next hosts Palermo on Friday. Juventus will play at Livorno next Sunday.

Juventus fans waved white-and-red flags and celebrated wildly at Stadio Delle Alpi as a huge screen flashed the result from Lecce at the end of the match.

Lecce twice rallied for the tie despite goals from Milan's Kakha Kaladze and Andriy Shevchenko.

Several Milan players appeared tired and slow, but coach Carlo Ancelotti denied that his team was distracted by the upcoming Champions League final.

"We lacked concentration on 2-1 and could have closed the match with another goal taking advantage of the 11 against 10 situation. We were not thinking of Istanbul, we tried to win the match and failed," Ancelotti said.

Inter Milan secured third place and a berth in next season's Champions League by beating Livorno 1-0. Striker Christian Vieri scored the only goal.

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