Inter and Juventus Share 2-2 Draw
ROME, Dec 3 (Reuters)(DS) - Inter Milan and Juventus shared a pulsating 2-2
draw at the San Siro on Sunday while league leaders AS Roma went four points
clear at the top of Serie A after drawing 0-0 at Perugia.
Juventus looked set for a vital away win when they went 2-0 up inside the
first 10 minutes against an Inter side still reeling from their 6-1
hammering at Parma in midweek.
David Trezeguet and French team mate Zinedine Zidane were Juve's scorers for
the second weekend running.
Zidane played a one-two with Alessandro Del Piero in
side the Inter box
before laying the ball square to an unmarked Trezeguet to stroke it home in
the seventh minute. Three minutes later Zidane unleashed a fierce but
speculative shot from 30 metres.
Inter's French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey appeared in two minds over whether
to punch the ball or catch it and succeeded only in palming it into the top
left hand corner of his net.
But for once Inter responded with tremendous spirit. Laurent Blanc became
the third French goalscorer of the night when he headed home an Alvaro
Recoba corner to make the score 2-1 in the 14th minute.
Recoba set up Christian Vieri for what should have been an equaliser in the
53rd but the big Italian striker, faced with an open goal from two metres
out, scooped the ball over the Juventus crossbar when it would have been
easier to score.
Luigi Di Biagio saved Vieri's blushes 13 minutes later with a quickly taken
free kick wich caught Juve off guard. Di Biagio's shot from 25 metres took a
deflection off Zidane, who was busy preparing a defensive wall, and
wrong-footed Edwin van der Sar in the visiting goal.
Juventus remain anchored in sixth place on 16 points while Inter move up to
ninth on 12.
SPORADIC CLASHES
AS Roma's goalless draw earlier in the day was played against a backdrop of
sporadic clashes on the terraces between travelling fans and police.
Things were just as tense on the pitch as Argentina's Gabriel Batistuta and
Italian striking partners Marco Delvecchio and Vincenzo Montella all tried
and failed to break down a stubborn Perugia's defence.
The home side, who had a goal ruled out for offside in the first half, had
midfielder Emanuele Blasi sent off for a second bookable offence in the 83rd
minute but clung on for a point.
Roma's rivals failed to take advantage of the slip-up. Second-placed
Atalanta Bergamo had been beaten 2-0 at Parma on Saturday and in Sunday's
matches, high-flying Udinese and Bologna also dropped points.
Udinese were beaten 1-0 at home by AC Milan, for whom Ukraine's Andriy
Shevchenko scored his eighth goal in nine league matches, while Bologna were
held 1-1 by promoted Vicenza.
Argentine striker Julio Cruz put the home side ahead in the 33rd minute but
Vicenza's Luca Toni hooked home an equaliser with a remarkable overhead kick
eight minutes later.
Fiorentina, 6-0 winners over Brescia in the Italian Cup in midweek, needed a
second-half penalty from Enrico Chiesa to salvage a 1-1 draw at Lecce while
at the bottom, Napoli beat Bari 1-0 to record their first win of the
campaign.
Nicola Amoruso scored Napoli's morale-boosting winner on the stroke of
halftime in a match halted briefly in the second half when a linesman was
hit on the shoulder with a water bottle thrown from the crowd.
Defending champions Lazio beat Reggina 2-0 on Saturday.
