Juventus settle for a share

Three players were sent off as Juventus came back from two goals down for a 2-2 draw at AS Roma in Serie A last night.

Juve's Alessandro Birindelli and Roma's French wing-back Vincent Candela were dismissed three minutes from the end of normal time for wild challenges and then two minutes later Roma captain Francesco Totti was red-carded for dissent.

It was an ugly end to what had been an entertaining game which, until the final minutes, had been free of the rancour which has dogged the fixture on many other occasions.

Totti had put Roma ahead in the 12th minute with a left-foot finish after a superb piece of control and then the Italy international produced a delightful back-heel flick to put Antonio Cassano through and the young striker rounded Gianluigi Buffon to double Roma's advantage in the 44th minute.

But before the break Alessandro Del Piero brought Juve back into the game with a near-post header from a Mauro Camoranesi corner.

Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved grabbed the equaliser five minutes from the end with a rasping left-foot drive into the top corner before tempers became frayed.

Two goals from Darko Kovacevic gave surprise Primera Liga leaders Real Sociedad a 2-1 win over Barcelona and added to their credibility as title contenders.

Sociedad had gone behind in the 32nd minute with an own goal by their goalkeeper Sander Westerveld, but goals either side of half-time by Kovacevic gave them victory.

Barcelona lost their composure in the closing stages and had Thiago Motta and Marc Overmars sent off as they both collected second yellow cards.

Werder Bremen's Brazilian striker Ailton was in top form in his side's 3-1 victory at home to VfB Stuttgart yesterday.

The south western side were unable to prevent the match falling away from them, when a win would have earned them second spot behind leaders Bayern Munich.

Bayern may be out of the Champions League but they top their domestic league table, six points ahead of Bremen, following their 2-0 home win over Hertha Berlin on Saturday thanks to goals from Michael Ballack.