Juventus Beat Milan 3-0, Roma March On
ROME, Feb 25 (Reuters)(DS) - Juventus beat arch-rivals AC Milan 3-0 on Sunday to reclaim second place in Serie A and stay within six points of Italian league leaders AS Roma, 2-0 winners at Vicenza earlier in the day.
Crotian defender Igor Tudor put Juventus in front with a ninth minute header in the late match at the Delle Alpi. Filippo Inzaghi converted an Alessio Tacchinardi cross for Juve's second goal in the 67th minute before Zinedine Zidane wrapped up victory with a delightful lob in injury time.
The result meant that for the second consecutive weekend the top three sides in Serie A all won.
While Roma were carving out their eighth away victory of the season against Vicenza, Lazio beat Verona 5-3 courtesy of a Hernan Crespo hat-trick in a rollercoaster match in Rome.
Roma stay top of 48 points to Juve's 42 and Lazio's 40. The trio have have opened an eight-point lead over both fourth-placed Parma, who trounced Perugia 5-0, and Atalanta Bergamo who were held to a 0-0 home draw by bottom-club Bari on Saturday to slip to fifth on goal difference.
TENSE MATCH
Roma struggled against Vicenza in the first half of a tense match played on a neutral pitch at Udine because of crowd trouble at Vicenza's last league game at Bergamo.
Fabio Capello's side lost Gabriel Batistuta to yet another knee injury at the end of the first half and had to wait until the 80th minute for Vincenzo Montella to break the deadlock with a superb left-foot strike from 30 metres. Emerson then added their second to ease the tension.
Czech winger Karel Poborsky put Lazio ahead in a tremendous match in Rome with his first goal since he signed from Benfica in January. Crespo added a second before halftime.
Argentine Mauro Camoranesi pulled a goal back for Verona straight after the break but Pavel Nedved restored Lazio's two-goal lead two minutes later with an angled left-foot drive.
Verona midfielder Martino Melis was then sent off for refusing to retreat the full 10 metres on a free kick, his second bookable offence.
But, as in their 2-2 draw against Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek, Lazio struggled to kill off their opponents having taken the lead.
Alberto Gilardino pulled Verona back to 3-2 and after Crespo scored his second goal in the 75th minute for 4-2 the visitors again hit back through Michele Cossato.
Crespo finally calmed Lazio's nerves by completing his first hat-trick for the club in the 90th minute.
Lazio have won six and drawn one of their seven league matches since coach Dino Zoff took over from England manager Sven Goran Eriksson in January.
Parma's 5-0 win over Perugia came courtesy of a double strike from Yugoslav Savo Milosevic, who also scored twice in Europe on Thursday, and goals by Brazilian Amoroso, Stefano Torrisi and Marco Di Vaio.
Despite their midweek defeat in the UEFA Cup by PSV Eindhoven, Parma are flourishing in the league where they have taken 12 points from 15 and scored eight goals without reply in their last two games.
RESPITE FOR INTER
Inter Milan responded to their dismal UEFA Cup debacle against Spanish side Alaves in midweek by beating Udinese 2-1 at the San Siro.
Marco Tardelli's beleaguered team, who were booed by their own fans as they took the pitch, looked to be heading for another disaster when they fell behind to a goal by Argentine Roberto Carlos Sosa.
But French defender Laurent Blanc soon equalised and Marco Ferrante scored a much-needed winner two minutes from time.
Edmundo's first goal for Napoli was not enough to save his side from a 2-1 defeat at Bologna, Giuseppe Signori celebrating his 100th appearance for the club with both goals.
