Ten-Man Juve Dismisses Inter, Shares Serie A Lead With Lazio
Copyright � 1999 Nando Media
Copyright � 1999 Agence France-Presse
ROME (December 12, 1999 6:20 p.m. EST http://www.sportserver.com) - Juventus saw Dutch goalkeeper Edwin
Van Der Sar ejected but held on to beat Inter Milan 1-0 with a
goal from Filippo Inzaghi at the Delle Alpi Sunday.
The win kept Juve tied on points with Lazio in the Serie A lead.
Both sides have 28 points from 13 matches but Lazio, which
dispatched Fiorentina 2-0 at the Olympic stadium earlier, led
Juve on goal difference.
AS Roma, in the lead at the start of the day, dropped to third after losing to Giuseppe Signori's superb winner at Bologna. It was its first road defeat of the season.
Inter remains fifth after its fourth defeat of the season,
tied with neighbor AC Milan - which beat Torino 2-0 Saturday -
and a point behind Parma, a 2-0 winner at Venezia.
Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro scored Parma's opener and
Argentine Hernan Crespo took his personal tally to 10 in a match
in which both sides had players ejected in the first half.
VAN DER SAR LUCKY TO ESCAPE
Van Der Sar was lucky to escape with a yellow card in
the eighth minute when he denied Ivan Zamorano a goal by
tripping him on the edge of the penalty area.
The referee had no choice but to give the Dutchman his
marching orders early in the second half when the goalkeeper
used an outstretched arm to stop a Zamorano shot outside the
area.
In between, Alessandro Del Piero and Inzaghi combined
superbly in the 19th minute to remind Inter manager Marcello
Lippi what he gave up by resigning as Juve coach last February.
Del Piero cut between Christian Panucci and Laurent Blanc
before pulling back a superb pass for Inzaghi to give the home
side a lead with his sixth goal of the season.
By contrast, Lippi's side demonstrated why it has scored
just twice on the road all season.
Even after the home side was reduced to 10 men Inter rarely
threatened replacement goalkeeper Michelangelo Rampulla.
Juve's midfield pair Edgar Davids and Alessio Tacchinardi
isolated Christian Vieri and Zamorano up front.
Croat striker Boksic took just 15 minutes to break Lazio's
recent goal drought at the Olympic stadium, racing onto
Sebastian Veron's pass to beat Francesco Toldo with a diagonal
shot for his side's first goal on home turf since Nov. 7.
Lazio should have put the match beyond the visitors long
before Dejan Stankovic's second goal in the 71st minute. Toldo denied the Yugoslav and Roberto Mancini on either side of halftime.
Neighbor Roma had looked in the mood to continue its run
of three straight wins when Vincenzo Montella's 10th-minute
chip beat Gianluca Pagliuca but not the post.
But Roma was stopped in its tracks by former Lazio
favorite Signori, who did his old side a favor by volleying
home Kennet Andersson's flick on with a superb bicycle kick in
the 25th minute.
Roma was unlucky not to grab a point when Marco Delvecchio
hit the woodwork in the closing stages.
