Newz Forum: SOCCER: Italy's Serie A results 23/01/05

Former AC Milan favourite Roberto Donadoni dealt his former club's title ambitions a blow on Sunday when the club he now coaches, Livorno, pulled off a famous home win over the champions.

The victory - earned by a goal from Corrado Colombo - was sufficient to see off the Serie A champions and allow Juventus to stretch their lead to five points by beating Brescia 2-0.


It could hardly have been a better weekend for Juve whose position was further secured by a 2-0 defeat for third-placed Udinese at home to Reggina. Emiliano Bonazzoli and Marco Borriello scored the goals for the Reggio Calabria-based side. Third-placed Udinese now trail Juve by 13 points with fourth-placed Inter another two off the pace. Despite Reggina's heroics, the biggest shock came at Leghorn where local favourites Livorno once again showed they are competitive in their first season of top-slight football since 1949. At the end of a week in which Milan defender Paolo Maldini celebrated the 20th anniversary of his playing debut for the Rossoneri it was his former team-mate Donadoni who took the glory. The sending-off in stoppage time of Alessandro Nesta completed a miserable day for Milan. A superb day for Juve was completed by their win over Brescia which was secured by a goal from David Trezeguet and a Maurizio Domizzi own goal.


Lecce ended their recent slump with a 1-0 win over bottom club Atalanta who are coached by former Lecce boss Delio Rossi. Teenage prodigy Valeri Bojinov scored the goal while Riccardo Montolivo was sent off for the visitors from Bergamo.


Arturo Di Napoli notched the only goal as Sicily's Messina beat Parma while the other Sicilian club Palermo had to settle for a 0-0 draw at struggling Siena.


Sampdoria won 2-1 at Lazio after surging into a 2-0 lead inside four minutes through Vitaly Kutuzov and a Francesco Flachi penalty. Tommaso Rocchi's goal for Lazio proved only a consolation for the home fans.


Inter Milan's draw curse struck again at the San Siro on Saturday with the Nerazzurri recording their 14th draw in 20 games against Chievo. Despite remaining the only unbeaten side in Serie A, Inter are 12 points behind leaders Juventus having played a game more and the fans have not hesitated to show their discontent at their side's inability to provide a title challenge. The Inter faithful refused to cheer for the opening 15 minutes of this game in protest at their team's stuttering progress. While they have been unlucky not to turn one point into three on a number of occasions this season, it is Chievo who will feel unfortunate not to have come away with the win. The visitors went ahead through Davide Mandelli with 17 minutes remaining only for Obafemi Martins to equalise for Inter.


Bologna continued their recent good form and pulled themselves further away from the relegation zone by picking up their third consecutive home victory with a narrow 1-0 win over Cagliari. Claudio Bellucci's second half strike proved the difference between the two teams at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara and it was a fully deserved victory for the home side who had to cope with a number of absentees. For the visitors it was another case of the away-day-blues as they again failed to pick up any points on their travels. The newly promoted club have had an impressive start to the campaign but this was mainly due to their home form as they have now only picked up one win and two draws from their 11 away games.

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