Tue, Dec 09, 2008 page18

• LEGA CALCIO: Milan, Juventus both win to keep their hopes alive

  • AFP
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  AC Milan and Juventus kept their title hopes alive ahead of next week’s crunch clash between the pair by both winning on Sunday and cutting the gap to leaders Inter back to six points.

  Inter’s 3-0 victory at Lazio on Saturday had heaped pressure on their nearest two challengers and while both toiled for long periods, they eventually eked out important wins, Milan succeeding 1-0 at home to Catania and Juve triumphing 2-1 at Lecce.

  AC Milan began their match against Catania in the middle of a paralyzing injury crisis.

  

  Udinese’s Gokhan Inler jumps up to hit an overhead kick against Atalanta during their Italian Serie A match at the Comunale Stadium in Bergamo, Italy, on Sunday.

  PHOTO: AP

  With players such as Ronaldinho, Andrea Pirlo, Marco Borriello, Clarence Seedorf, Massimo Ambrosini and Alessandro Nesta all on the treatment table, a patch-work Milan took to the field at the San Siro.

  The two teams played out an entertaining if scoreless first half, with the recalled Andrei Shevchenko sending a stooping header just over the bar early on.

  Milan were enjoying the better of the chances and Shevchenko should have done better when played in by Kaka but, clearly lacking in confidence, he tried to play the ball back to the Brazilian rather than shooting and his pass was deflected away for a corner.

  Teenage Brazilian forward Pato was next to try his luck, but Bizarri spectacularly tipped his thunderous free-kick over the bar on 64 minutes.

  However, from the resulting corner Milan took the lead, with Kaka’s header from Pato’s dead ball flicking off Lorenzo Stovini’s toe to deceive Bizarri.

  Chances kept coming thick and fast after that as the game opened up, but Mascara came closest to scoring with a diving header that Abbiati did brilliantly to turn around the post for a corner.

  Against Lecce, Juventus were hamstrung by the absence of evergreen forward Alessandro Del Piero, but it was his understudy, Sebastian Giovinco, who on 57 minutes lit up what had until then been a dull game.

  Giovinco, a reported target of West Ham United, stepped up 12 minutes into the second period to smash a wonderful free-kick into the top corner that required a second look to be sure it wasn’t Del Piero himself who had taken it.

  That looked like it would be enough to earn Juve the three points, but Lecce piled on the pressure and deservedly equalized.

  Jose Ignacio Castillo should have done so 10 minutes from time, but somehow directed a stooping header from inside the six yard box over the bar.

  But Daniele Cacia steered home a shinned left-foot volley three minutes later to seemingly earn the southerners a share of the spoils.

  However, Juve kept fighting and Brazilian Amauri headed home a Paolo De Ceglie cross from close range in the last minute to give the visitors a vital three points.

  Napoli remained fourth with a 2-0 home win over Siena, while Fiorentina moved up to fifth with a 4-1 win at Torino.

  Veteran Christian Vieri came off the bench to score his first goal of the season for Atalanta as they inflicted a fifth straight defeat on Udinese, winning 3-0.

  Italian Serie A

  	Team	P	GD	PTS
  1	Inter	15	17	36
  2	Juventus	15	13	30
  3	AC Milan	15	8	30
  4	Napoli	15	7	27
  5	Fiorentina	15	8	26
  6	Genoa	15	6	25
  7	Atalanta	15	4	23
  8	Lazio	15	1	23
  9	Catania	15	-1	22
  10	Udinese	15	3	21
  11	Palermo	15	-1	20
  12	Cagliari	15	-1	20
  13	Roma	14	-2	20
  14	Siena	15	-2	19
  15	Sampdoria	14	-4	16
  16	Lecce	15	-7	13
  17	Torino	15	-9	12
  18	Reggina	15	-16	12
  19	Bologna	15	-11	11
  20	Chievo	15	-15	9
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