Roma continue to set the pace

As Roma continued to lead the rest of the Italian first division on a merry dance with a 21 victory over Udinese at the Olympic Stadium yesterday, setting themselves up nicely for forthcoming fixtures with city rivals Lazio and Juventus.

In last night's game between this season's underachievers, 10-man Fiorentina beat Inter Milan 2-0 in Florence.

Fiorentina had Paolo Vanoli sent off two minutes from time for fouling Inter substitute Robbie Keane.

Only Juventus really kept the pressure up on the capital club with a 1-0 victory over Parma in Turin, secured by a solitary goal by defender Ciro Ferrara.

AC Milan's Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko scored two goals in the 4-1 defeat of Lecce and Roma's co-tenants at the Olympic Stadium, Lazio, restored morale with a similar 4-1 victory in Vicenza.

Atalanta are showing signs of flagging after their superb early season run. They found Perugia impossible to break down and had to settle for a 0-0 draw at Bergamo.

Napoli drew 1-1 with fellow strugglers Brescia.

Spanish League champions Deportivo La Coruna missed an opportunity to move clear in the Primera Liga title race yesterday when they were held 1-1 by Rayo Vallecano.

Deportivo let a 1-0 lead slip and had to be happy with a draw which puts them level on 28 points with Valencia, but second outright on goal difference.

Valencia had gone to the top of the league on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad.

Meanwhile Malaga's Uruguayan Dario Silva equalled the fastest ever goal scored in the Spanish championship, held since 1997 by Paraguay's "Lobo" Diarte, by finding the net after just seven seconds in their 3-1 victory against Valladolid.

Real Madrid's Luis Figo showed he was worth his price tag with a virtuoso goal in their 3-0 victory over Celta Vigo at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Barcelona, after a chaotic start to the season, managed to beat Espanyol 4-2 in their home derby at the Nou Camp stadium to give themselves hope of clawing up from fifth spot later in the season.