AS Roma's dreams of a second title in four seasons hit a major stumbling block Tuesday: European champion AC Milan and league scoring leader Andriy Shevchenko.
Shevchenko scored twice in Milan's 2-1 win in a match that was hailed as the Italian league's most important so far this season.
Roma was flying high entering the game, having created a six-point gap for itself atop the standings as it tried desperately to forget last season's dismal eighth-place finish and concentrate on duplicating its championship success from 2001.
Milan was just trying to get back on track after a two-game losing streak that included the Intercontinental Cup against Argentina's Boca Juniors and its first league loss to Udinese.
Shevchenko's league-leading 13th and 14th goals, which eclipsed Roma's lone score by Antonio Cassano, sent a signal to all of the league leaders that the "scudetto" is far from being decided.
"Milan didn't have anything to demonstrate, but tonight's victory shows one thing: no team has an advantage in the race for the title," Shevchenko said. "The title will be decided in the last round."
Roma, which lost for the first time in 15 matches this season, still leads Serie A with 36 points. Milan, which has played one match fewer than the rest of the leaders, and defending champion Juventus, have 33 points. Inter Milan has 31.
Juve defeated Perugia 1-0 and Inter beat Lecce 3-1 earlier Tuesday as the Italian league returned to full action after its leisurely holiday break.
Shevchenko's match-winner came in the 63rd minute.
Portuguese playmaker Manuel Rui Costa carried the ball upfield in a 3-on-3 action and slipped the ball to his left where "Sheva" easily converted an angled shot.
For his first goal, Shevchenko controlled a long forward pass from Clarence Seedorf in the 24th and lifted a lob shot over goalkeeper Ivan Pelizzoli before defender Christian Chivu could stop the action.
"The first was a great pass by Seedorf and a perfect control. The second we gave away," Roma coach Fabio Capello said of Shevchenko's exploits, explaining that Milan's second goal was started by a free kick that Roma was not paying attention to.
"This helps us bring our feet back down to earth and understand what we have to do," he said.
Seconds before referee Gianluca Paparesta whistled for halftime, Roma equalized.
Roma captain Francesco Totti hurried over to take a corner kick, got the ball back and lifted a long cross to midfielder Alessandro Mancini along the goalline, which the Brazilian headed over to Cassano, who was also on the goalline and scored easily.
After Paparesta finally did blow his whistle to end the half, Milan players complained about the fact that the goal was scored just after the three minutes that were assigned as injury time had passed. Although TV replays suggested Paparesta may have informed the players on the field that there was some more time to play.
"Time was up, but it was certainly more of a slight on our part than the referee," Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "It was four against three for Roma inside the goal area."
Roma opened the match with a burst of energy and Totti's long shot in the fourth minute was caught by Milan's Brazilian 'keeper Dida just in front of the crossbar.
Milan then gained the upper hand with Shevchenko's goal and another chance by the Ukrainian in the 38th, which went just wide.
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