Juventus Zooms to First Place, Inter Milan Struggles
Copyright � 1998 Nando.net
Copyright � 1998 Reuters
MILAN (Nov 1, 1998 - 13:26 EST) - Italian champions Juventus soared to the top of the Serie A by beating Sampdoria 2-0 on Sunday, while archrivals Inter Milan plunged into crisis after a 3-2 home defeat to Bari.
Juventus ace Filippo Inzaghi scored a goal in each half to leave Marcello Lippi's men top of the table with 16 points -- one more than Fiorentina, who were beaten 2-0 by Parma on Saturday.
Inzaghi opened the scoring in the 33rd minute with a volley which flashed in off the post, while Angelo Di Livio lined up his second in the 59th minute to put the result beyond doubt.
The morale boost came at a perfect time for Juventus, who have been struggling in the European Champions League and who face Athletic Bilbao in Turin on Wednesday.
By contrast, 10-man Inter suffered their third consecutive league defeat after a 5-3 humiliation here by Lazio and a 1-0 defeat to Juventus in Turin.
Ronaldo came on as a second-half substitute and scored one goal and made another. But the match-winner was Bari's South African striker Phil Masinga.
The afternoon started with Inter fans making a silent protest and leaving a large space at the north end for a banner which read: '25-10-98: Unworthy' referring to the defeat to Juventus.
Paolo Sousa was sent off in the 40th minute after the Portuguese midfielder was booked for protesting and then kept on arguing, eventually forcing the referee to show him a red card.
The fans responded by whistling the team off at the break and the second half was only 50 seconds old when 21-year-old Bari striker Gianluca Zambrotta prodded a cross past Gianluca Pagliuca.
Masinga, who scored the only goal here last season, had the ball in Inter's net just next seven minutes later only to be ruled offside.
Gigi Simoni, who will be fighting to keep his job next week, threw on Ronaldo for Nicola Ventola in the 57th minute, having rested the Brazilian during his battle to reach match fitness.
But Masinga beat Pagliuca a second time in the 73rd minute -- and this time it counted.
Ronaldo won and converted a penalty in the 85th minute, but Inter's chances of a comeback were shattered just two minutes later when Masinga bagged his second.
Ronaldo then went on a superb 30-metre run into the Bari area before setting up an easy goal for Francesco Colonnese in injury-time, but it was all too late.
The result ruined a historic day for skipper Giuseppe Bergomi, who set a new Italian record of league appearances -- his 502nd game for Inter eclipsing Gigi Rivera's 501 for AC Milan.
The only winner could be the currently unemployed coach Fabio Capello, already being tipped to replace Simoni.
Capello's former club AC Milan meanwhile scraped a 1-1 draw away to Piacenza on Sunday.
Simone Inzaghi, the younger brother of Juventus' Filippo, headed Piacenza into a 44th-minute lead but Maurizio Ganz grabbed an injury-time equalizer after a goalmouth melee.
Salernitana upset Lazio 1-0 with a late winner by Drazen Bolic. It was Lazio's first league defeat of the season. Uruguayan Marcelo Otero scored both goals as Vicenza beat Cagliari 2-1 and Arturo Di Napoli got both in Empoli's 2-0 win over Perugia.
