AC MILAN coach Arrigo Sacchi, who recently said the Italian champions title hopes were dead, appeared to have been proved right last night when Lazio routed his club 3-0 at Rome's Olympic Stadium. Milan were the only top team to fail to take advantage of Parma's 1-0 home victory over leaders Juventus - a bad tempered match in which four players were sent off. All the other leading sides won to cut Juve's lead at the top of the table to three points.
Milan have now lost their last two league games and are out of the European Cup thanks to their shock defeat to Norway's Rosenborg - all since former Italy coach Sacchi replaced Uruguayan trainer Oscar Tabarez last month.
Sacchi, angered by Milan's 1-0 loss to Parma just before the Christmas break, had lashed out at his players, saying they lacked motivation after years of success and were all but out of the title hunt.
His words came back to him in yesterday's match in Rome, where a well organised Lazio dominated, with strikers Giuseppe Signori and Pierluigi Casiraghi scoring brilliant goats in the 22nd and 45th minutes. Alessandro Grandoni, a 19 year old reserve defender, netted a second half header to bury Milan, who had to rely on Roberto Baggio and off form Dejan Savicevic up front as George Weah of Liberia was injured.
In Parma, Italy striker Mario Chiesa scored the crucial goal for the hosts in the second minute of a nerve ridden, violent match in which each side had two players sent off.
Juventus's Moreno Torricelli went first with his second booking just before the interval. Chiesa, strike partner Alessandro Melli and Juventus's France midfielder Zinedine Zidane were all sent off for rough play between the 64th and 66th minutes.
"It was an ugly match but the referee was right every time he showed his red card," said Juventus coach Marcello Lippi. "How many times do I have to repeat that Juventu have not won the title yet? The race is still wide open and we have not broken away.
It was the second successive surprise victory for Parma, who beat champions AC Milan just before the Christmas break in a win that virtually saved coach Carlo Ancelotti's job. The 1995 UEFA Cup champions appear to have put the worst behind them after a disastrous start to the season.
Unfashionable Vicenza took advantage of Parma's return to form by beating Bologna 2-0 to move into second place on 26 points. Uruguay's Marcelo Otero scored both goals against promoted Bologna, whose Swedish international, Kennet Andersson, was sent off in the second half for two bookings.
Sampdoria and Inter Milan advanced to joint third, four points behind Juventus after beating Udinese 5-4 and Roma 3-1 respectively. Veteran Roberto Mancini scored a hat trick for the Genoa side, taking his season's total to 10 goals, while his talented understudy, Vincenzo Montella, netted twice, as did Brazilian Amoroso for Udinese.
Inter dominated at the San Siro, where French playmaker Youri Djorkaeff received a two minute standing ovation for a scissorkicked goal that gave the Milan club a 2-0 lead before the break.
Marco Delvecchio cut the gap against his former club just after the interval and Roma came close to equalising before defender Salvatore Fresi sealed the victory with a well taken goal in the 68th minute.
Argentine international Gabriel Batistuta missed a penalty but his Fiorentina side still beat Napoli 3-0 at home to move into fifth place on 24 points.
In Perugia, Russian striker Igor Simutenkov scored his first two goals of the season to help bottom club Reggiana beat Perugia 3-1 for their first victory of the season. It was the first match for Perugia without coach Giovanni Galeone, who was sacked last month and will be replaced by former Parma - trainer Nevio Scala next Sunday.
In Bergamo, Uruguayan striker Federico Magallanes came off the bench to score the winner against Verona with three minutes left as Atalanta took a big step away from the relegation zone. Verona stayed second bottom on 10 points.
Danish midfielder Christian Loenstrup also came off the bench to score in the 78th mintue as Cagliari beat Piacenza 1-0 at home to move to 14 points, third from bottom.
In Spain, Real Madrid regained their lead in the Spanish first division yesterday thanks to a solitary goal from teenager Raul Gonzalez in the snow affected game against Athletic Bilbao. With 42 points from 18 games, Real are two points ahead of arch-rivals Barcelona, 1-0 winners at third placed Deportivo Coruna on Saturday.
Real had the best of the game but were somewhat fortunate to take three points as Raul's 61st minute winner took a lucky deflection. The game could be played only because of the effectiveness of the under soil heating in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on a day when Madrid neighbours Rayo Vallecano saw their game with Sevilla postponed because of snow.
The club authorities at one stage had to appeal to fans to stop bombarding players and match officials with snowballs.
The other Madrid team, champions Atletico, came home 4-2 winners from struggling Extremadura after being put on their way by a goal by Daniel Prodan, the Romanian international who was making his Spanish first division debut. Two fine goals from striker Kiko Narvaez sealed the game for Atletico, who went 4-0 up before a late recovery from the home side.
Atletico stayed fifth, 10 points off the pace and three points behind Real Bet is who play Valencia tonight.
Real Sociedad remained sixth thanks to a last gasp winner against Zaragoza. The defeat left Zaragoza fourth from bottom just 20 months after taking the 1995 European Cup Winners' Cup.
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