Juve and Lazio Trade Places-Again
01/16/2000. After Lazio were held to a scorless draw by Reggina, Juventus
regained the solitary lead of the Serie A table by defeating Perugia 3-0 in
the Delle Alpi Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Despite holding the run of play throughout the match, former table leaders
Lazio were unable to send one by onetime Red Devil Massimo Taibi, as a
result of a well fielded Reggina defense that did not allow the Roman side
many shots on goal. In addition, at the end of the game Lazio protested
vehemently towards the referee Cesari, who they contended did not award two
obvious penalty kicks in their favor for a Taibi takedown of Mancini on the
stroke of halftime, and for a foul on Simone Inzaghi inside the Reggina box
in the 50th minute.
On their part Juventus never suffered against a modest Perugia, which were
playing their first game without Hidetoshi Nakata, who signed with AS Roma
earlier in the week. Alex Del Piero opened the score in the 27th minute off
a penalty kick awarded to the home side for a foul on Inzaghi inside the
Grifoni�s box. In the second half Juve had difficulty transforming their
possession into danger, but a majestic free kick by Zinedine Zidane gave
the Turinese side the comfortable lead in the final minutes, which Darko
Kovacevic added on to in injury time.
Third placed Parma were held to a scoreless draw in the Stadio Via del Mare
by Lecce, in what was the least entertaining face off of the Serie A�s 17th
matchday. Both teams appeared dormant throughout the match, which had its
biggest opportunity come in the 23rd minute when Lecce midfielder Lima�s
header skimmed the post of the Parma net. AS Roma joined Parma in 3rd place
with a 3-1 victory over Verona, courtesy of a Francesco Totti pair of
goals. The game also featured the positive debut of Japanese Hidetoshi
Nakata with the yellow and red outfit, who received an ovation by the
Olympic Stadium when Antonio Rinaldi substituted him in the 70th minute.
Inter kept its dismal title chances alive with a late goal by Francesco
Moriero, which broke the 1-1 tie set by Oliveira�s goal in the 17th minute.
Finally Torino returned to victory after a drought of over one-month, with
goals by Ferrante and Pecchia. In the Sunday night game Milan travel to the
Stadio Friuli to meet Alberto Zaccheroni�s former team Udinese.
