Juventus Defeats Lazio; Sends Warning to Man United
Copyright � 1999 Nando Media
Copyright � 1999 Agence France-Presse
MILAN (April 17, 1999 2:50 p.m. EDT http://www.sportserver.com) - Juventus hammered Italian league leaders Lazio 3-1 before their own fans on Saturday, causing a major upset in the Serie A and sending a clear warning to Manchester United.
It was Lazio's second consecutive 3-1 defeat, after AS Roma had ended a 17-match unbeaten run last weekend, and flung the championship door wide open to AC Milan who play Udinese on Sunday.
Juventus were without rested playmaker Zinedine Zidane but discovered a new French hero in winger Thierry Henry who scored twice, either side of a goal by Nicola Amoruso, before a disbelieving crowd in Rome.
Substitute Roberto Mancini pulled one back for Lazio to make it 2-1, but there was no denying a convincing Juventus team, who were using the match as a warm-up for Wednesday's Champions League semifinal with United.
However, Lazio were not the afternoon's only big losers: third placed Fiorentina saw their title hopes all but vanish in a 3-0 defeat at Bologna.
Lazio coach Sven Goran Eriksson, whose team were walking away with the league title this time last week, looked gutted after the defeat.
"We played well in the first half but they got two goals from two of our mistakes," he said. "Meantime we hit the post and missed a lot of chances. And in the second half, we suffered."
Comparing this defeat with last Sunday night's, the Swede said: "Today's match was very, very different to the one we lost to Roma. That one we deserved to lose, in this one we deserved more than we got."
With five matches still to play, all eyes will now be on second placed Milan and their difficult away match at Udine. Currently four points behind Lazio, but they could slash that gap to a single point on Sunday.
AC Milan coach Alberto Zaccheroni, who returns to face the team he guided to third place in the Serie A last season, was surprised and delighted with the outcome in Rome.
"Lazio's result is certainly an unexpected one, especially as they were playing at home, with the crowd behind them." said Zaccheroni, who was lost for words at the unexpected chance.
"If at this stage, we are not able to take advantage of it then..."
The "scudetto" aside, he added: "As far as our bid for the Champions League is concerned, the most important result today - and this one too was unexpected - is the defeat of Fiorentina."
The Florence club, who also had Giulio Falcone sent off, have earned only one point from their last three games - just like Lazio - and therefore stay five points behind, when they could have been three in front.
Bologna's victory came gift-wrapped from Russia, with Igor Simutenkov opening the scoring in the first half, before goals from Stefano Bettarini, against his old club, and Igor Kolyvanov sealed victory.
Fiorentina finished with 10 men after Falcone got his marching orders, and now realistically have only the Italian Cup final second leg against Parma as an objective this season.
