Zola trims Juve's Serie A lead to two points

Juventus's lead at the top of Serie A was trimmed to two points when a late goal by Gianfranco Zola held them to a 1-1 draw at Cagliari last night.

The result gave Juve 44 points from 19 games. Italian champions Milan, who came from behind to beat third-placed Udinese 3-1, are second on 42 points.

Lazio suffered their first defeat under recently appointed coach Giuseppe Papadopulo when they lost 3-1 at home to Palermo.

Palermo's victory was bad news for Roma, who are also chasing a European place. They had to rely on a brace by leading Serie A scorer Vincenzo Montella to claw back a two-goal deficit in a 2-2 draw with Chievo.

It was an uninspired Juventus that shared the points with Cagliari at the Sant'Elia stadium. Both sides had chances to score in a tightly-contested first half. Cagliari striker David Suazo fired straight at Gianluigi Buffon from a good position, while at the other end David Trezeguet chested down Pavel Nedved's cross on the edge of the box only to scuff his shot.

In the 54th minute, Nedved took advantage of some confusion when the ball bounced loose in Cagliari's area to send over a cross that Brazilian Emerson headed in off the bar.

Two late Buffon saves to deny striker Antonio Langella seemed to have given Juve all three points, but with one minute of normal time remaining Stephen Appiah was caught in possession by Cagliari's Massimo Brambilla, who whipped in a cross for Zola to head into the net.

The result benefited Milan. The champions started the day four points behind Juve and had a tough-looking game against Udinese at home. An upset seemed on the cards as early as the ninth minute when Antonio Di Natale unleashed a long-range shot that flew into the top corner of Dida's goal.

By the half-hour mark Udinese looked to have established control but a defence-splitting pass by Kaka allowed Andriy Shevchenko to stab in a surprise equaliser.

Milan had Udinese midfielder Marek Jankulovski to thank for their 53rd-minute lead. His attempt at a headed clearance ended up in his own net.

Milan began to dominate and striker Jon Dahl Tomasson had already missed a sitter before Kaka dribbled through the defence to add a third a minute before the end.

Chievo quickly tore up the formbook, striker Sergio Pellissier chesting down Roberto Baronio's long ball to fire past Roma goalie Ivan Pelizzoli after 15 minutes.

Chievo's second, five minutes later, was the result of hesitancy at the back as Roma's back four gave Simone Tiribocchi time and space to lash Pellissier's cross into the net.

Chievo's failure to make it 3-0 on the half hour, when Pellissier rounded Pelizzoli but missed the target from a tight angle, signalled the start of Roma's fightback. Montella struck his 15th goal of the season in the 34th minute, turning Francesco Totti's low cross into the net to pull one back for the visitors. He grabbed a second seven minutes after the restart with a superb volley from another Totti cross.

In the Italian capital, meanwhile, Lazio's hopes of notching up their third Serie A win in a row were sunk by Palermo striker Luca Toni who scored twice in their 3-1 win.

Serie A

Atalanta 1
Siena 1
HT: 1-1. Att: 12,000

Cagliari 1
Juventus 1
HT: 0-0. Att: 25,000

Chievo 2
Roma 2
HT: 2-1. Att: 9,523

Lazio 1
Palermo 3
HT: 1-1. Att: 35,000

Livorno 3
Messina 1
HT: 0-0. Att: 16,000

Milan 3
Udinese 1
HT: 1-1. Att: 62,417

Parma 2
Lecce 1
HT: 0-0. Att: 13,000

Sampdoria 0
Bologna 0
Att: 24,000

Played On Saturday

Brescia 1
Fiorentina 1

Reggina 0
Inter 0

Leading Scorers

16 goals - Montella (Roma). 14 goals - Adriano (Inter). 13 goals - Shevchenko (Milan). 10 goals - Bojinov (Lecce), Totti (Roma).

Next Fixtures

Saturday
6 p.m. Bologna vs Cagliari
8.30 p.m. Inter vs Chievo.

Sunday
3 p.m. Juventus vs Brescia; Lazio vs Sampdoria; Lecce vs Atalanta; Livorno vs Milan; Messina vs Parma; Siena vs Palermo; Udinese vs Reggina.
8.30 p.m. Fiorentina vs Roma.

Serie B

Catanzaro 1
Ternana 4

Cesena 1
Catania 0

Empoli 0
Bari 0

Modena 0
Ascoli 1

Perugia 1
AlbinoLeffe 0

Pescara 2
Triestina 1
Friday

Piacenza
Verona
today

Salernitana 1
Crotone 1

Torino 1
Treviso 2

Venezia 0
Genoa 3

Vicenza 1
Arezzo 1

Serie C1(A)

Acireale vs Spezia 1-1; Como vs Pro Patria 1-2; Cremonese vs Sangiovannese 2-1; F. Andria vs Lumezzane 1-0; Frosinone vs Pisa 1-0; Novara vs Pistoiese 1-0; Pavia vs Mantova 0-2; Prato vs Vittoria 0-1; Torres vs Grosseto 0-0.

Leading standings: Cremonese 38; Mantova 36; Grosseto, Pavia 35; Pro Patria 30.

Serie C1(B)

Avellino vs Giulianova 2-0; Benevento vs Lanciano 1-1; Chieti vs Sora 1-1; Napoli vs Fermana 1-1; Padova vs Martina 1-1; Reggiana vs Cittadella 1-1; Spal vs Rimini 0-0; Teramo vs V. Pesaro 1-0; Sambenedettese vs Foggia today.

Leading standings: Rimini 42; Avellino 37; Reggiana 30; Lanciano, Teramo 29; Napoli 27.