Zizou Gives Juve The Lead As Lazio Are Held By Parma
02/13/2000. Thanks to a piece of free kick magic by Zinedine Zidane, Juventus returned on top of the Serie A table as they defeated Lecce 1-0 on Sunday in the Delle Alpi Stadium. Zidane's 27th minute goal was a deserved prize for the home team as they dominated the first half-hour of the game.
However, on the stroke of half time, the tide of the match changed as Juve midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi was sent off after he received his second yellow card. The man advantage allowed Lecce to be more aggressive for the rest of the match, but Christiano Lucarelli was unable to send the ball home in two clear scoring chances around the 70th minute mark.
Juve's lead was legitimized in the evening as Lazio were unable to go beyond a scoreless draw with Parma in Rome's Olympic Stadium. The former league leaders held the run of play throughout the match, but created few scoring opportunities. The biggest chance occurred on Marcelo Salas's head but his short-range connection off of Alessandro Nesta's cross went wide of the net. Parma had their chances as well, but Hernan Crespo shot high over the bar when he was alone in front of Lazio keeper Marchegiani late in the second half.
Lazio's city rivals AS Roma wasted a two-goal lead in Perugia as Olive struck twice in the second half to nail the score on 2-2. Moments after they were left a man down due to skipper Francesco Totti's sending off, AS Roma took the lead through former Perugia midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata, a goal which Vincenzo Montella added onto late in the half on a penalty kick. But the comfortable lead was not enough in the second half to deny Perugia's comeback, especially because AS Roma wasted many counter attack opportunities.
Inter were also held to a draw by a fighting Torino side, who actually held the lead in the first half after Mendez struck the ball past Peruzzi in the 20th minute. Inter, who were playing with Roberto Baggio, Alvaro Recoba, and Christian Vieri from the start leveled the score ten minutes later as the Italian international striker sent home an invitation from the Uruguayan star.
In other games, Gabriel Omar Batistuta saved Fiorentina from another defeat as he equalized Udinese's Martin Jorgensen's go ahead goal in the 70th minute, Venezia overcame Cagliari thanks to a pair of goals by Maurizio Ganz, and Piacenza and Reggina battled to a scoreless draw.
