Udinese get room with a view

Udinese stretched their lead at the top of the Italian first division yesterday, a 2-0 home victory over Lecce seeing them push a point clear of the chasing pack.

Second-half goals from Argentinean Roberto Sosa and substitute Massimo Margiotta ensured Luigi De Canio's men go clear - before the weekend they led only on goals scored from Atalanta who drew 3-3 in a thriller with AC Milan at the San Siro and are relegated to third.

Up to second are AS Roma whose Argentinean striker Gabriel Batistuta scored a second-half hat-trick to overturn an interval deficit and ensure his side won 4-2 at Brescia.

Another man in form was French striker David Trezeguet, who scored twice as Juventus ended an indifferent run with a well-deserved 2-0 triumph at Reggina.

Inter Milan came back twice to draw 2-2 at 10-man Verona in yesterday's evening match in a game that saw the visitors' striker Christian Vieri return to first-team action as a second-half substitute after a five-month injury absence.

On a day of incident-packed games, the San Siro clash probably took the honours with AC Milan coming from 3-1 down at the break to snatch a 3-3 draw with Atalanta.

In Spain, Athletic Bilbao looked set for their first away win of the season yesterday, after Aitor Larrazabal scored from the penalty spot on 18 minutes against Osasuna.

But a battling Osasuna forced a draw after Mariano Armentano poked the ball home following a goalmouth scramble 19 minutes from time.

Real Zaragoza's season finally seemed to have come to life after they notched up their second league win in four days. Daniel Montenegro's first-time shot and Paulo Jamelli's superb volley gave Zaragoza a well-deserved victory against a ragged Racing Santander.

Real Mallorca continued their run of form with a narrow 1-0 away win over a Real Sociedad side who continued to look short of ideas in attack.

Atletico Madrid fans have called for club president Jesus Gil to resign after a 2-1 home defeat to Spanish second division leaders Tenerife yesterday.

It was their second defeat in a week and the former Spanish champions are now 19th in the 22-team division.