Juventus and Atalanta Keep Up Pressure on Roma
MILAN (Reuters)(DS) - Atalanta and Juventus kept up the pressure on Serie A leaders AS Roma with wins on Sunday, while Inter and AC Milan were both held to draws.
Roma, who lead by three points, face Lazio in the Rome derby later on Sunday. Juventus moved into second place, ahead of Atalanta on goal difference, with a convincing 4-1 win at Lecce.
Filippo Inzaghi, recalled in place of the injured Alessandro Del Piero, opened the scoring after a perfect through ball from Zinedine Zidane and Juve doubled their lead through in-form David Trezeguet who drove home his sixth goal of the season from close range.
Lecce had defender David Balleri sent off in the 39th minute but battled hard after the break and Rodolfo Giorgetti brought them back into the game with a powerful strike in the 70th minute.
But late goals from substitutes Darko Kovacevic and Gianluca Zambrotta ensured three points for Juve, who now face a crunch showdown with Roma on Friday.
Atalanta, promoted from Serie B in the summer, could hardly have expected to be heading into Christmas in the top three but they again demonstrated they are much more than flash in the pan with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Bologna.
The Bergamo side have won admirers for their commitment to youth but it was two Serie A veterans who forged the breakthrough seven minutes from the end when Maurizio Ganz slid home a cross from Marco Nappi.
Ganz's old club AC Milan lost ground after they could only manage a 1-1 draw at Verona. Emiliano Bonazzoli put Verona ahead in the fourth minute but Milan drew level 18 minutes later when midfielder Massimo Ambrosini rose well to head home a Francesco Coco cross.
Inter Milan dropped to eleventh place after a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Roberto Baggio's Brescia. Baggio, making his first return to the San Siro after joining Brescia from Inter in the close-season, twice went close with long-range efforts and while Inter coach Marco Tardelli will be relieved that the former Italy international was kept off the score-sheet, the result confirms all is still far from well at the troubled Milan club.
Parma drop to eighth after suffering a shock 2-0 home defeat to Vicenza, for whom Luca Toni scored both goals, while Udinese's slump in form continued with a 3-1 home defeat to Fiorentina -- their fourth consecutive league reverse.
Udinese went ahead through Dane Martin Jorgensen, but Fiorentina drew level with a delightful strike from the rejuvenated Enrico Chiesa before going ahead thanks to an own-goal from Andrea Sottil in the 65th minute. Two minutes later Portuguese midfielder Rui Costa made sure of the points when he added the third after a poor clearance from Udinese keeper Luigi Turci landed straight at his feet.
