Trezeguet And Del Piero Send Juve Top
MILAN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Goals from David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero fired Juventus to the top of Serie A on Saturday with a 2-1 win over struggling Fiorentina.
Juventus now have 47 points, two more than second-placed AS Roma who play at Brescia on Sunday.
But AC Milan's miserable form continued with a drab goalless draw at home to mid-table Atalanta - their fourth consecutive home game without a win.
Juve got off to a bright start and French international Trezeguet put them in front on 11 minutes with a fine left-foot shot on the turn from just inside the penalty area.
But Fiorentina, next to bottom of the table, drew level three minutes later when Domenico Morfeo threaded an inch-perfect pass into the path of Brazilian striker Adriano who rounded Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and slotted home.
Del Piero restored Juve's lead on the half hour with a close-range strike, to complete a good week for the Italy striker who scored in his country's 1-0 win over the United States in Wednesday's friendly.
Adriano and substitute Ezequiel Gonzalez both went close to equalising for Fiorentina with solo efforts in the second half as Juventus struggled to maintain momentum.
But after Fiorentina defender Andrea Tarozzi was sent off in the 72nd minute for a second yellow card there was no way back for the Florence side.
Juventus coach Marcello Lippi admitted his team had found it hard-going.
'We suffered against a good side that despite their league position have some top players. We knew to expect that because they have made it hard work for all the top teams,' said Lippi.
'But in the end we achieved a very important result with this win after what has been a strange week with 13 players on international duty and not even one training session together,' he added.
After draws with Perugia and Brescia and a defeat to Udinese in their last three home matches, Milan badly needed victory against Atalanta but it was another night of frustration for the 51,833 crowd at the San Siro.
Carlo Ancelotti's side continue to play without fluency although, despite their disjointed performance, they still managed to carve out enough openings to have beaten a modest Atalanta.
Most of Milan's efforts on goal came from long range with Portuguese playmaker Rui Costa, again deeply disappointing, going close with a 20-metre drive in the early stages.
Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko went close with a header 10 minutes after the break before making way for Spanish striker Javi Moreno.
The closest Milan came to breaking the deadlock came in the 68th minute when Romanian full-back Cosmin Contra whistled a long-range drive just inches past the post.
The result leaves Milan without a win in six games and although they move up to fifth place ahead of Sunday's games that was little consolation for the fans who greeted the final whistle with a chorus of jeers and whistles.
