Juventus Holds Off Napoli, AS Roma Upset at Home
Copyright � 1999 Nando Media
Copyright � 1999 Agence France-Presse
MILAN (December 1, 1999 6:54 p.m. EST http://www.sportserver.com) - Napoli's dream of beating mighty Juventus after more than a year of second division football was lying in ruins on Wednesday night after it went down 3-1 in the Italian Cup.
Rome's joint league leaders also flopped in other third round, first leg ties with a re-shuffled AS Roma losing 1-0 at home to lowly Piacenza and Lazio drawing 1-1 at second division Ravenna.
But on a night when most football fans stayed at home, more than 70,000 nostalgia freaks turned up at Napoli's San Paolo stadium, the former home of Diego Maradona, to watch their once great team fight like lions but fail to bridge the skills gap on the 1996 world champions.
Juventus was ahead after just 17 minutes, when Jonathan Bachini swept a free-kick to the far post in a packed penalty area. Yugoslav Darko Kovacevic headed it back across the face of the goal for Filippo Inzaghi to nod into an empty net from less than a meter.
The favor was returned in the 29th minute when Inzaghi won back possession and fed the ball to Kovacevic, who cracked a first-time shot past the Napoli keeper from the edge of the area.
Napoli pulled one back in the 34th minute after Juventus' Argentinian striker Juan Esnaider used his hands to block a cross into the penalty area.
Midfielder Francesco Turrini converted a textbook spot-kick, sending the goalkeeper to the left and the ball into the right-hand corner. Napoli gave everything it had in the second half, but the Juventus defense marshalled by former San Paolo favorite and Maradona teammate Ciro Ferrara held firm.
And the visitors all but booked their place in the quarterfinals in the 79th minute when Kovacevic bagged his second of the night with an angled shot from close range.
Piacenza, meanwhile, caused an upset by edging AS Roma, albeit with five first-team regulars being rested by coach Fabio Capello. Roma striker Marco Delvecchio, who had scored two goals in each of his last two league matches, could this time only fire blanks, and there was no joy either from Brazilian Fabio Junior.
Giampietro Piovani scored the matchwinner in the 37th minute, snapping up the rebound after a shot from former Roma striker Ruggiero Rizzitelli hit the post and bounced out.
Lazio fared little better with a dismal performance against its Serie B opponents.
Croatian Alen Boksic drove the favorites into a 65th minute lead after some slack defending, but Ravenna substitute Sebastiano Vecchiola leveled with a diving header 10 minutes later.
Cagliari also defied the form book by beating Parma 1-0 with a second-half penalty from Cameroon striker Patrick M'Boma, while Perugia surprised Champions League hopefuls Fiorentina 1-0 after Mauro Milanese blasted in a low shot from over 20 metres in the fourth minute.
Venezia, who on Monday welcomed back Luciano Spalletti as coach after sacking him earlier in the month, beat Udinese 3-0. Yugoslav Dejan Petkovic shot Venezia into an 11th minute lead and Filippo Maniero headed in a cross from Japan's Hiroshi Nanami in the 34th.
Maniero chipped home in his second of the night in the first minute after the re-start, again after a collecting the ball from Nanami.
