Rome and Argentina ruled in the Italian first division yesterday with leaders AS Roma coming back to defeat Parma 2-1 and defending champions Lazio eclipsing Lecce 3-2 to go joint second with Juventus.
Roma trailed Parma - Marco Di Vaio scoring - until two superbly-executed secondhalf volleys from Argentinian Gabriel Batistuta helped them soar six points clear of Juventus, beaten 2-1 by Atalanta Saturday night. Lazio continued their 100 percent form under new coach Dino Zoff. That victory was also made in Argentina with Hernan Crespo (two) and Juan Sebastian Veron the scorers.
Fiorentina lost further ground when they were downed 1-0 by Napoli in yesterday evening's match played at Palermo because of crowd misbehaviour by fans of the Naples club. Fabio Pecchia scored the decider in injury-time.
Inter Milan's Christian Vieri notched his fourth goal of the season at Bologna. Luigi Di Biagio and veteran Yugoslav Vladimir Jugovic added further goals for a 3-0 win.
Brescia missed two penalties but still beat Bari 3-1 in their relegation clash with Bari.
Danish midfielder Martin Jorgensen gave Udinese the lead at Vicenza but the home side's striker Luca Toni squared the match from a penalty. But inform Massimo Margiotta's injury-time winner gave Udinese a 2-1 victory.
AC Milan needed a second half goal from Brazilian Leonardo to beat Reggina 1-0.
Juventus were victims of an Atalanta comeback at Bergamo Saturday. A Massimo Paganin own-goal with 17 minutes remaining looked like giving Juve the points, but Stefano Lorenzi equalised before Nicola Ventola notched the winner.
Perugia defeated Verona 1-0 with the goal coming from their inspirational Inter Milan-bound defender Marco Materazzi. Meanwhile, Spanish giants Real Madrid beat Malaga in a 43 thriller yesterday to consolidate top spot in Spain. Real needed a 76th-minute solo goal from Ivan Helguera to pull ahead of Malaga in front of 70,000 fans at the Bernabeu.
Real are now seven points ahead of Deportivo La Coruna, who stayed in touch with a 2-1 win against Racing Santander. Dutch international Roy Makaay scored both goals for Deportivo.
A hat-trick from Luis Enrique helped Barcelona send Athletic Bilbao crashing to a 7-0 club record defeat. Dutchman Philip Cocu contributed two goals. Valencia's title aspirations look slim after they were held to a 2-2 draw at Real Mallorca, for whom Alberto Luque scored a last-minute equaliser.
Controversial British striker Stan Collymore made his Spanish debut for Real Oviedo yesterday, but saw his new side lose 1-0 at Las Palmas.
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