Capello unconcerned after Inter cut lead

European round-up: Juventus coach Fabio Capello said he saw no reason to be worried after his side's lead at the top of Serie A was cut to eight points following a 1-1 draw with Chievo last night.

The result, which put Juve on 53 points from 20 matches, allowed Inter Milan to close the gap with a 1-0 victory over Treviso. AC Milan lie third on 43 points after a 1-0 win against Ascoli.

"If this was supposed to be an alarm bell, it hasn't rung yet," Capello said.

The draw against a lively Chievo side was only the third time this season that the Italian champions had dropped points in Serie A following a 3-1 defeat to Milan in October and a 1-1 draw with Lazio in December.

At the weekend they reached the halfway point of the season with a 10-point advantage over Inter, prompting some Italian papers to announce that Juve had "killed" the championship.

After the draw with Chievo, Capello simply repeated his mantra that the title race still had a long way to run.

"They (Inter and Milan) have gained two points on us. It's only right that they are happy. But I think they were thinking positively even before this round of matches," he said.  "The championship is not over yet. We are only just past the midway stage."

On Sunday Juventus can resume their winning run against Empoli, who have earned just two points in their last seven matches. Inter face a tougher test against in-form Palermo, who beat Parma 4-2 last night.

In Spain, former Roma striker Antonio Cassano made the perfect start to his Real Madrid career with a goal-scoring debut against Real Betis..

"I couldn't have asked for a better debut," the Italian international said. "I am really happy and hope that the run continues in the next few games."

The 23-year-old, who has spent his first two weeks at Real trying to lose weight and regain fitness after a muscle strain, made the most of an error from Betis keeper Toni Doblas to score an opportunist strike three minutes after coming on as a substitute in the King's Cup tie. Real won the quarter-final first leg 1-0.

"The fans were shouting 'fatty' at me, but I just stayed calm," he said. "For me the important thing was for the team to win, everything else was secondary. Whether I'm fat or not doesn't really matter, the good thing was that we won a very tricky game."

In the other quarter-final first leg, Espanyol won 2-0 at Cadiz thanks to a 51st-minute goal by new signing Walter Pandiani and a fine individual effort from Fredson near the end.