Roma's Lead Cut After Juventus Beat Inter
ROME, April 14 (Reuters)(DS) - AS Roma's lead at the top of Serie A was cut to four points on Saturday as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Perugia while second-placed Juventus beat Inter Milan 3-1.
Roma needed a controversial injury time goal to salvage a point. Vincenzo Montella appeared to get the final touch on their desperate equaliser after a goalmouth scramble involving Gabriel Batistuta and Damiano Tomassi plus about six defenders.
But the goal was later credited as an own-goal scored by Perugia's Giovanni Tedesco. The visitors were furious with referee Cosimo Bolognino for allowing it to stand, claiming there had been a foul during the
melee on the line.
They surrounded the official and a linesman for several minutes in protest before the game was restarted.
Roma had trailed for much of the match -- firstly to a brilliant 44th minute strike from midfielder Davide Baiocco and then after goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli made a terrible blunder to give Perugia a 2-1 lead.
Baiocco swept a right foot shot into the top left-hand corner of Antonioli's goal from 30 metres to silence 60,000 fans in a rain-soaked Olympic Stadium.
Roma captain Francesco Totti equalised in the 53rd with a low right foot shot from the edge of the box before Antonioli gifted Perugia what looked likely to be a 77th minute winner.
The veteran keeper dropped the ball as he tried to pick it up off the greasy surface and striker Luca Saudati stole in to stroke it into the empty net.
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Roma's untidy equaliser ensured they extended their unbeaten home run in Serie A to 13 months. They have not lost in the capital in the league since March 19 last year.
Juventus took full advantage of Roma's disappointment as they swept aside Inter with three second half goals from Alessio Tacchinardi, Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro Del Piero ensuring a comfortable win for Carlo Ancelotti's side.
After an even first half in wich Inzaghi struck the crossbar, Juve took the lead in the 50th minute when Tacchinardi found himself in space on the edge of the area and his sweetly-struck shot gave Sebastien Frey no chance.
Four minutes later Juve doubled their lead when Inzaghi lost his marker Matteo Ferrari and cut in from the left to beat Frey with a low, angled shot. The result was put beyond doubt in the 63rd minute when Inter's increasingly ragged defence stood and watched an Inzaghi cross reach Del Piero and the Juve captain drove home, with the help of a deflection off Inter defender Laurent Blanc.
Inter pulled a goal back four minutes later when Christian Vieri was brought down by Paolo Montero inside the area and the Italy forward rose to convert the spot-kick.
Argentine striker Hernan Crespo scored both goals to give Lazio a 2-0 victory at Reggina and join Andriy Shevchenko at the top of the Serie A scoring table with 18. Crespo's goals were set up by his compatriot Diego Simeone in the 16th and 70th minutes.
Shevchenko hit a classy 71st minute goal to cap AC Milan's 3-0 defeat of Udinese, twisting inside two defenders at the San Siro before firing a low shot past the goalkeeper. Milan's win lifted them above neighbours Inter into sixth place on 40 points.
Parma won 1-0 at Atalanta Bergamo in their tussle for a Champions League berth to extend their unbeaten run to eight matches. They consolidated fourth place, six points behind Lazio, their opponents in Rome on Wednesday.
Yugoslav Savo Milosevic scored Parma's winner with a fine individual strike in the 28th minute. In-form Enrico Chiesa grabbed a brace in Fiorentina's 2-0 defeat of Lecce while former Fiorentina hero Roberto Baggio scored with a crisp, curling free kick to give Brescia a 1-0 win in their relegation clash with Verona.
Verona ended the match with nine men after Mauro Camoranesi was sent off for dangerous play and team mate Natale Gonnella was dismissed for a second bookable offence in injury time.
Napoli claimed their first win in seven matches -- 1-0 at bottom-of-the-table Bari thanks to a late strike from Czech Marek Jankusovski. Mohammed Kallon scored twice as Vicenza beat 10-man Bologna 4-2 to move out of the drop zone.
