Leaders Juve Win But Lazio Keep Up Pressure
ROME, April 22 (Reuters)(DS) - An Alessandro Del Piero penalty on the stroke of halftime gave Juventus a 1-0 win over Fiorentina on Saturday to keep Carlo Ancelotti's side five points clear at the top of Serie A.
But Lazio kept up the pressure by winning 2-0 at relegated Piacenza thanks to goals from Argentines Diego Simeone (59) and Juan Veron (68).
With just three matches to play, Juve have 68 points to Lazio's 63. Juventus face in-form Verona and Parma and mid-table Perugia in their final games while Lazio have an easier run-in against Venezia, Bologna and Reggina.
"We've still got a few difficult obstacles in front of us but we'll keep looking forward and approach them with calm," Ancelotti said.
Champions AC Milan scored twice in the opening 15 minutes en route to a 2-1 victory at Reggina while Roberto Baggio was on target as Inter Milan swept past Bari 3-0 for their first win in seven matches.
Milan move back into third place on 54 points, level with Parma, who extended their unbeaten run to eight games by drawing 0-0 with AS Roma at the Olympic Stadium. Inter edge up to fifth place on 52 points, a point ahead of Roma in an increasingly heated battle for Italy's last two berths for next season's Champions League.
While Juve and Lazio have clinched the first two places, four teams are divided by just three points to join them. Udinese's 0-0 draw against Torino was enough to take them a point further ahead of Fiorentina and they now look certain to make it into the UEFA Cup for the fourth year in a row.
At the bottom, Venezia look doomed after conceding two late goals to draw 2-2 at home with Verona. Torino, Bari and Lecce are the other three teams fighting to avoid the drop.
EIGHTH PENALTY FOR DEL PIERO
Del Piero's goal was his eighth of the league season and all of them have come from the penalty spot. He has not scored in open play in the championship since October 25, 1998 -- just before he was sidelined for six months with a knee injury.
But the little Italy striker will be happy enough to have grabbed the winner against a spirited Fiorentina side who twice came close to equalising through Enrico Chiesa. Fiorentina, who still have work to do to claim a UEFA Cup place, have now not won at Juventus for 12 years.
Lazio, perhaps weary after their futile bid to reach the semifinals of the European Cup in midweek, struggled against a stubborn Piacenza side in the first half. But Simeone came off the bench for compatriot Matias Almeyda in the 57th minute and two minutes later broke the deadlock with an artful header from a Sinisa Mihajlovic corner. Nine minutes later Veron curled a fine free kick over the Piacenza defensive wall and into the top corner of the net to keep Lazio's slim title hopes alive.
Milan had Spaniard Jose Mari to thank for their early breakthrough against Reggina. Back in the side after injury, he scored a scrambled goal in the sixth minute and then set up Andriy Shevchenko for the second goal eight minutes later. The Ukrainian's close range strike took his season's tally to 22 and carried him back to the top of the goalscoring standings.
Baggio's goal was only his third of the campaign but will come as sweet relief after a season on the substitutes' bench. The former Italy captain struck with a low right-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area to grab Inter's third goal after French pairing Benoit Cauet and Laurent Blanc had put Marcello Lippi's side in the driving seat. Cauet's goal was a lucky deflection off a Javier Zanetti shot but Blanc's was a superb header at the back post from an Alvaro Recoba cross.
