Inter Top As Udinese Halt Roma, Juve Keep In Touch
MILAN, Jan 20 (AFP) - A fortuitous 1-1 draw for AS Roma at unfashionable Udinese provided a further twist to the race for the Italian first division title Sunday, allowing Inter Milan to return to the summit with a 2-0 home win against Parma.
David Di Michele's goal early in the second half gave Fabio Capello's side a fright although an equalizer by Roma's veteran Argentinian forward Gabriel Batistuta and goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli's late penalty save from Udinese's Roberto Muzzi avoided total disaster for the champions at Serie A's northernmost outpost.
But it was not enough to stop Inter reclaiming pole position by a single point with their victory at the San Siro, courtesy of a freak own goal by Parma's Argentinian defender Nestor Sensini and Christian Vieri's 13th of the season.
Behind the front pair in-form Juventus, four points adrift, are looking more and more ominous after their 3-0 home win over Atalanta earned by Alessio Tacchinardi and David Trezeguet (two) but surprise contenders Chievo fell further by the wayside, losing 3-1 at Bologna.
However, Chievo, who have a game in hand over most of their rivals, remain in fourth place thanks to a slip up by AC Milan who had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina on Sunday evening.
It looked good when Spanish striker Jose Mari headed AC Milan in front after 52 minutes but then Fiorentina's Austrian goalkeeper Alex Manninger kept his side afloat by saving a penalty from Milan's Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko.
The sending off AC Milan's Italian international Gennaro Gattuso further tilted the game towards Fiorentina who then equalised in injury time through Brazilian striker Adriano to give new coach Ottavio Bianchi a precious draw in his first game in charge.
Adriano, ironically, is on loan from Inter and his late goal ensured a perfect day for the new leaders that had started with Roma's slip-up at Udine.
At Udine, Capello admitted: "The result was a fair one - we had some very dangerous moments to deal with and we have to thank Antonioli for the penalty save."
Udinese coach Giampiero Ventura lamented Muzzi's gaffe - he also missed from the penalty spot against Juventus a fortnight ago.
"Muzzi missed again - that's twice now from a player who has scored a lot of goals and it cost us," said Ventura.
Inter were in front within four minutes at the San Siro when Sensini turned a rebound into his own net under pressure after a save by Parma's French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey but it took Vieri's impressive late strike to kill off the game.
Inter's Argentinian coach Hector Cuper said: "Today we played a good game in all sectors of the field."
At Turin, Juventus had to wait until the 33rd minute before taking the lead through Italian international midfielder Tacchinardi who profited from a rash dash out of his area from Atalanta's bungle-prone goalkeeper Massimo Taibi.
Goals either side of the interval by Frenchman Trezeguet, who now has 12 this season, killed off the side from Bergamo.
"The team showed great concentration and I am very pleased with that," said Juve coach Marcello Lippi. "Not just with Trezeguet but with the whole team."
Bologna had two-goal Lamberto Zauli to thank for beating 10-man Chievo.
After Zauli scored the opener Chievo's Christian Manfredini missed a penalty for the Verona-based minnows.
Angry Bologna coach Francesco Guidolin was ordered to watch the rest of the match from the stands by referee Pierluigi Collina but after the interval Chievo defender Lorenzo D'Anna was also expelled by the official rated the best in the world.
Argentinian Julio Cruz extended Bologna's lead and although Luigi Beghetto pulled one back Zauli finished off Chievo in injury time.
Guidolin said: "I told Collina very nicely that I did not agree with his penalty award so I hope I will not be banned from the touchline next week."
Chievo coach Luigi del Neri said: "We were not paying as much attention in defence as we usually do and although we were in the match right until the end Bologna deserved to win."
Lazio's slender hopes of featuring in the title race were boosted by a 5-0 thrashing of Perugia, a rout begun when Simone Inzaghi netted at the Olympic Stadium.
Argentinian Claudio Lopez, who had just replaced compatriot Hernan Crespo, pounced for a second and in the second period substitute Stefano Fiore, Yugoslav winger Dejan Stankovic and Paolo Negro added further goals.
Verona beat bottom club Venezia 1-0 through a deflected goal by Massimo Oddo with Giuseppe Colucci's missed penalty for the hosts proving unimportant.
Lecce and Piacenza fought out a 0-0 bore draw in a basement battle. On Saturday night Torino won 2-1 at Brescia.
Argentinian Andres Yllana headed Brescia in front but in the closing minutes Torino substitute Marco Ferrante re-wrote the script, first notching his 101st goal for the club and then setting up Simone Vergassola for the winner.
Antonino Asta was then sent off but Torino hung on for all three points.
