LEADERS JUVENTUS stayed three points clear in Serie A after they thumped lowly Novara 4-0 yesterday while second-placed AC Milan won 4-1 at Siena with Antonio Cassano scoring for the first time since heart surgery in October.

Inter Milan moved level on 55 points with third-placed Napoli and Lazio in the pursuit of the final Champions League spot after beating already-relegated Cesena 2-1.

Juve, who next host third-bottom Lecce on Wednesday, are unbeaten in Serie A with three games left and are on course for their first scudetto since a 2006 match-fixing demotion.

Milan’s Cassano now looks poised to be the Azzurris talisman in Poland and Ukraine while Milan can only wonder what might have been. “It is such as shame we’ve not had Cassano for all of the season,” said Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani.

At the other end of the table, fourth-bottom Genoa lost 3-2 at Bologna to further anger their “ultra” fans who rioted in their home defeat by Siena last weekend. However, Lecce missed the chance to move above them and out of the relegation zone by losing 2-1 at home to Parma.

Atalanta secured mid-table safety with a 2-0 home win against strugglers Fiorentina. Among Saturday’s three matches, Napoli drew 2-2 at AS Roma.