Battle hots up for Champions League berths

As happened last year, the scudetto issue this season has long taken the shape of a two-horse race as at present only two points separate Juventus from nearest pursuers Milan.

The direct clash between these two sides will probably give a strong indication where the league title will be heading to in May. An even more determining factor could be each side's prolonged involvement in the Champions League.

While Juve and Milan are playing in a league of their own, the next five teams in the standings - Inter, Udinese, Sampdoria, Palermo and Roma - are currently entangled in an equally exciting battle for the last remaining two Champions League berths. It is difficult to see into the future. Inter seem to enjoy a slight edge here but the remaining four all have equal chances to reach a top-four placing.

A stuttering start to the season ruined much of the good work Roberto Mancini has done at Inter. His team dropped several precious points in the initial stages... the season was not too much old when the pundits ruled Inter out of the title race.

Mancini recently told reporters that taking so long to find an ideal playing system and the right players for his set-up compromised much of Inter's chances.

As Mancini's plans were gradually gaining momentum, Inter started coming more and more into the picture. At one stage, they were 15 points adrift of Juventus. Now, with 14 games to go, they are -11.

Inter managed to cut the gap with Juve during a negative patch for Fabio Capello's team. However, with Juve back to winning ways, it is next to impossible for Mancini's men to join the fray for the title chase.

Securing the third placing in the standings is well within their reach even if they will also have to focus on the Champions League.

If this reasoning is correct, then only one Champions League slot would still be up for grabs at the end of the season.

Palermo are not a dazzling team. They are not spectacular to watch either but utterly difficult to beat. In general, Palermo have come out of direct encounters with the big guns with flying colours.

Their two main shortcomings could be a lack of strength-in-depth and a shortage of experienced players. These factors, coupled with the fact that Palermo do not possess a genuine goalscorer who can partner Luca Toni up front, can undo much of the significant work put in by Francesco Guidolin.

There's no middle way for Roma... either they play well and record handsome wins or else they falter and drop vital points.

This could be a season of transition for financially-troubled Roma but if they are to keep hold of their prized assets, then they have no alternative other than to participate in next season's Champions League.

The name of the game is consistency. In the absence of this, it may be prohibitive for Roma to make it to the top four.

Udinese and Sampdoria are the hot favourites in this race, I suppose.

Last season, these two sides were the protagonists of a similar tussle to make theirs the last available UEFA Cup berth. This time around the stakes are likely to be higher.

Udinese recovered well from a mediocre start. Luciano Spalletti's side remained unbeaten for a long period until they experienced another dip in form at the beginning of the second round.

Even Sampdoria were off to a poor take-off but have been going from strength to strength with every game they played ever since their 2-0 victory against Fiorentina on the fourth day.

Serie A statistics

1st defeat for Roma after an un-beaten run of six games as they conceded a goal in each half to go down to Inter - the only unbeaten side in Serie A. Bortolo Mutti's Messina interrupted their poor run of six straight away defeats by sharing the spoils with fellow strugglers Siena. The visitors were off to a flying start as they took the lead after only five minutes through Arturo Di Napoli. It took Siena quite some time to recover from such a poor start and only equalised just after the break. The Sicilians seemed heading to their first ever win in six league visits to Siena when Alessandro Parisi re-established their lead. But to no avail as the up-and-coming Davide Chiumiento grabbed a vital equaliser for Siena. This draw - the sixth in a row for the Tuscany team - was the first between these two sides since February 9, 1986 (1-1 in Serie C1).

2nd win - the first in over 55 years - for Livorno in six home league meetings with Sampdoria. On Sunday, Roberto Donadoni's Livorno were desperate to return to winning ways but could not break down Sampdoria's resistance. Then, Cristiano Lucarelli hit a dramatic winner for the club to celebrate its 90th anniversary in style. For Sampdoria, who have last conquered the Armando Picchi stadium in 1967, this was their first defeat following a five-match positive run (three wins and two draws). On Saturday, Lazio put an end to their miserable run of five successive games without a win (one draw and four defeats) by beating bottom-of-the-class Atalanta 2-1. Atalanta are the only side still without an away win this season.

3rd straight win for Milan as they remained in contention for the championship thanks to their first victory in Reggio Calabria since April 22, 2000 (2-1 in Serie A). It was a must-win situation for Milan following Juve's victory over Udinese. Juve were by far the better side for most of the game only to lose composure in the last stages of the match. However, David Di Michele's 92nd-minute goal came too late to deny Juve from victory. Had Luciano Spalletti's side equalised, then it would have been their first draw in Turin since 1990. In a vital clash, Fiorentina beat Parma for the first time since March 7, 1999 (2-1 in Serie A). This was Fiorentina's first victory after four defeats. The most recent of four draws in 14 league meetings between these two sides was registered in December 1997 (1-1 in Serie A). The change of coach did the trick for troubled Brescia as they returned to victory thanks to a comfortable 2-0 home success against Cagliari. This was Brescia's first win in 10 games and also their first over Cagliari since January 1986 (3-1 in Serie B). A draw between these two sides has been missing since March 6, 1966 (0-0 in Serie A).

8 Years had to pass for Lecce to return to winning ways against Chievo at their Via del Mare stadium. It was always going to be difficult for Chievo to repeat last season's triumph at the same venue mainly because of their poor away record (only two wins in 11 games) and Lecce's marked improvement of late. On Sunday, Mario Berretta's Chievo resisted until Alex Konan's 27th-minute opener. From then onwards, it was one-way traffic as Lecce's lead was never in peril. The only time these two sides have shared the spoils was on January 24, 1999 (2-2 in Serie B). Palermo dropped two precious points as they could only share the spoils with 10-man Bologna at the Dall'Ara Stadium. Everything pointed towards Palermo's first win in Bologna since October 3, 1982 (3-1 in Serie B) as the Sicilians took a first-half lead through Luca Toni at a time when the home team were already reduced to 10 men. Instead of venturing forward in a bid to close the game, Palermo simply sat back soaking the pressure exerted by Bologna, who eventually equalised through Igli Tare after Palermo had a player sent off. This was the first drawn result between these two sides since December 1995 (0-0 in Serie B).

24 Goals were scored on the 24th day: hosts - 17; visitors - 7. Foreign players contributed with nine goals while there were eight first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 589. Despite not being on target for Roma last weekend, Vincenzo Montella still tops the scorers' list with 18 goals. Evergreen Sinisa Mihajlovic was the only player to grab a double as he scored Inter's two goals against Roma. Marco Zamboni committed the only own goal of the day as his mishap interrupted Reggina's unbeaten run and kept Milan's title chances intact. Tare (Bologna), David Di Michele (Udinese), Davide Chiumiento (Siena) and Valdes (Lecce) were the ones to come on as substitutes and score. Five players - Stefano Morrone (Palermo), Andrea Sussi (Bologna), Alessandro Budel (Cagliari), Philippe Mexes (Roma) and Daniele Portanova (Siena) - received marching orders. Messina defender Alessandro Parisi scored the only penalty of the weekend.