Salas's Late Goal Hands Juventus Yet Another Loss
Posted: Sunday December 06, 1998 01:51 PM
MILAN, Italy (AP) -- Chilean striker Marcelo Salas revived Lazio's title hopes and pushed two-time defending league champion Juventus to the brink of a severe crisis as he scored a late game winner for the Roman team in Sunday's big match of the Italian Serie A.
Salas' goal, with nine minutes left at Turin's Delle Alpi arena, gave Lazio a 1-0 victory and 17 points overall, eight behind leader Fiorentina which downed Bologna on a goal by its Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta in one of the three first division matches played Saturday.
It was Lazio's second victory on the road this season while injury-crippled Juventus suffered its third defeat in the last four league matches, extending its winless streak to one month.
Juventus, missing its stellar forward Alessandro Del Piero and forced to start a teenage goalkeeper from the junior teams, slipped to fifth place with 18 points, in a tie with another struggling great Intern Milan.
Juventus 0, Lazio 1
Salas scored his fourth and perhaps most important season goal as he outdribbled Juventus defender Mark Iuliano and kicked the ball past teenage keeper Morgan De Sanctis from a few meters.
De Sanctis made his Serie A debut in a crucial match as Juventus regular goalies Angelo Peruzzi and Michelangelo Rampulla were both injured in last Wednesday's Champions League match against Galatasaray in Istanbul.
Salas' goal, which improved Lazio's record to 4-5-3, came as Juventus steadily pressed on the attack to capture its first victory since November 1.
The fourth loss of the season came on the eve of Juventus' crucial Champions League game against Rosenborg. The Turin team must defeat the Norwegians on Wednesday and hope of a defeat of Galatasaray by Athletic Bibao to qualify for the quarterfinals.
In injury time, Juventus' French star Zinedine Zidane missed the equalizer by a few inches with a powerful drive. Minutes before Salas' goal a header by the French midfielder had been saved by Lazio's goalie Luca Marchegiani with a miracle dive.
