Juventus moved closer to their 25th League championship yesterday when they and their title rivals, Inter Milan, both drew 0-0. Juventus had plenty of possession but failed to make it count at Vicenza, whose Pasquale Luiso was unlucky not to snatch a winner.
Inter were held by Piacenza, despite the one-way traffic at San Siro, and failed to narrow a four-point gap on Juventus with just two matches left.
Ronaldo hit the post and Inter's Nigerian striker Nwankwo Kanu failed to put away the easiest of rebounds in the 24th minute, while Argentine Diego Simeone also hit the woodwork.
Inter's failure to score means that Juventus could be crowned champions next weekend against Bologna.
Further down the Serie A, Udinese, Parma and AS Roma have all booked their places in next season's UEFA Cup.
Udinese swept to a 3-1 win over Napoli which also kept their German star Oliver Bierhoff top of the Serie A scoring charts with 25 goals.
It was a miserable day for relegation strugglers Brescia, who sacked coach Paolo Ferrario yesterday morning and went a goal down after just 17 seconds to Fiorentina in the afternoon - before losing 5-1, Argentinian skipper Gabriel Batistuta scoring twice.
Atalanta kept alive their hopes of avoiding the drop by beating Bari 2-0.
In the Spanish leage Brazilian midfielder Juninho yesterday played his first game after three months out with a broken leg but was unable to stop Atletico Madrid suffering a disastrous 2-1 defeat at Mallorca.
The result left Atletico in serious danger of missing out on European action next season. They are eighth, three points adrift of Spain's last UEFA Cup place with two games left to play.
Real Madrid play Real Zaragoza tonight after losing second place - and a shot at the European Cup - to Athletic Bilbao, 30 winners over Oviedo.
Athletic Bilbao ensured their UEFA Cup place after going ahead against Oviedo through a goal that Jose Ziganda appeared to score with his hand.
Real Betis recovered from a Winston Bogarde goal midway through the first half to beat runaway champions Barcelona 3-1.
