Lazio Back On Top, As Juve Waste Golden Opportunity in Parma
01/09/2000. With a last minute goal by Hernan Crespo, a nine man Parma were able to hold Juventus to a 1-1 draw in the Stadio Tardini early Sunday afternoon, thereby allowing Lazio, who defeated Bologna 3-1 later in the day, to reclaim the solitary lead of the Serie A table.
After referee Farina blew the final whistle, there was no doubt that Juventus were filled with regrets as they dominated the game throughout the ninety minutes. The visiting side's go ahead goal arrived in the 69th minute through an Alessandro Del Piero penalty kick, following a Filippo Inzaghi take down by former Atletico Madrid defenseman Stefano Torrisi inside the Parma box.
Not only did Juventus get a penalty off this episode, but they also gained the man advantage as Torrisi was sent off by Farina for his foul on Inzaghi. Eight minutes later the situation got even worse for Alberto Malesani's boys as Dino Baggio was shown the red card for an ugly tackle from behind on Gianluca Zambrotta, a situation which left the home team two men down with 15 minutes left to play.
After Inzaghi missed a spectacular volley in the 87th minute, Parma accomplished the unexpected. Johan Walem sent Hernan Crespo down the left flank, the Argentine entered the area, and from an impossible angle struck the ball past an incredulous Edwin Van der Saar.
With this result Juventus stand on 33 points in the table, one behind leaders Lazio who had to suffer before overcoming an insidious Bologna in Rome's Olympic Stadium. Sven Goran Eriksson's team went ahead with three minutes left to go in the first half through Marcelo Salas, who headed home the woodwork's rebound of a Dejan Stankovic blast. Bologna leveled the score early in the second half through Kenneth Andersson's header off former Lazio forward Giuseppe Signori's cross.
Despite the equalizer, the Roman side were able to celebrate their 100th birthday in the best manner possible thanks to the heart of Pavel Nedved, who jumped higher than everybody else to head home Sergio Conceicao's cross in the 76th minute.
On the stroke of the final whistle, after both teams were playing a man down as a result of Nedved's and Paramatti's second yellow cards, Fabrizio Ravanelli added the cherry on the cake by scoring his first goal with Lazio since his arrival from Marseille two weeks ago.
In other games played on Sunday afternoon, Lecce upset Torino on the road with a late goal by Cristiano Lucarelli, Cagliari finally got its first win of the season with an impressive 3-0 victory over Piacenza, Udinese stunned Perugia 5-0 with four of the five goals coming in the first half, Bari defeated Venezia 3-0 at home, while Verona and Reggina battled to a 1-1 draw. This Sunday's Serie A marathon seals itself off with two fantastic match-ups that you can follow.
