Roma join Chievo at the top in Italy (from italian- soccer.com)

MILAN, Dec 16 (AFP) - A goal from captain Francesco Totti helped AS Roma defeat AC Milan 1-0 Sunday evening at the Olympic Stadium, a result that saw the defending champions join Chievo at the top of the Italian first division.

Totti scored with a somewhat fortuitous goal which took a deflection off Milan's Argentinian defender Jose Antonio Chamot and then deceived goalkeeper Christian Abbiati with a freak bounce.

But it was enough for Roma to join Chievo who had returned to the summit on Saturday night by defeating previous leaders Inter Milan 2-1.

Earlier Sunday, Verona did Chievo, with whom they share the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, a big favour, defeating Lazio 3-1 to end the recent good run by the Roman outfit.

That kept Lazio six points behind leaders Chievo, who regained top spot Saturday night with a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan at the San Siro.

Turin giants Juventus did keep in touch with Chievo and Roma, however, when a first-half goal from veteran defender Ciro Ferrara and an injury-time clincher from Frenchman David Trezeguet helped them see off Piacenza 2-0 and move ahead of Lazio into fourth place, five points behind the joint leaders.

At the other end of the table a 4-1 spanking for Parma at Atalanta heightens the pressure on their beleaguered Argentinian coach Daniel Passarella while bottom club Venezia posted their first win of the season, defeating Udinese 2-1.

Juventus were far from impressive at home to Piacenza in the first half but took the lead when their veteran defender Ciro Ferrara put them ahead in a goalmouth melee despite appeals for offside by visiting players.

Trezeguet scored with virtually the last touch to ensure victory after Piacenza's Dario Hubner - top scorer in Serie A with 12 goals - spurned two fine chances.

Juve coach Marcello Lippi fired a warning shot at Chievo, saying: "They have done very well but there is a long way to go in the Championship."

At Verona Leonardo Colucci gave Verona a 21st-minute lead against Lazio and just before the break Argentinian Mauro German Camoranesi netted a rebound after Massimo Oddo's penalty had been saved by Lazio goalkeeper Luca Marchegiani.

Hernan Crespo's goal, the Argentinian's eighth of the season, proved a false dawn and Romanian Adrian Mutu sealed the match for Verona. Lazio striker Simone Inzaghi was then sent off.

Lazio coach Alberto Zaccheroni lamented: "We made mistakes and we did not read the game well, especially in the first half."

It was a red-letter day for Venezia. Fabian Valtolina scored the winner after Udinese's Spanish midfielder Luis Helguera had equalised a first-half goal from Filippo Maniero.

The first win for the Venice club came at the expense of Udinese coach Giampiero Ventura, who had a nightmare debut after replacing the sacked Roy Hodgson this week.

"I've only been here for a few days. It's the beginning not the end of my task," said Ventura, clearly unaware of the notoriously short patience of the club's major shareholder Giampolo Pozzo.

Venezia coach Alfredo Magni was upbeat, saying: "Now we have this first victory and we hope to continue in the same vein."

Giovanni Tedesco scored an early goal for Perugia at Bologna and celebrated by throwing snowballs at his own supporters but it was Bologna who ended up in seasonal good cheer when Fabio Pecchia and Salvatore Fresi scored before the interval to ensure a 2-1 win.

Lecce and fellow strugglers Torino shared a 1-1 draw. Slovenian Sebastjan Cimirotic netted for Lecce from a position that looked suspiciously offside but former Lecce favourite Cristiano Lucarelli equalised for the Turin club.

At Bergamo crisis club Parma saw their plight worsen when Atalanta's Daniele Berretta and Luigi Sala gave the hosts a 2-0 interval lead.

New Italian international Cristiano Doni netted his 11th goal of the Serie A season after the break and another from Gianni Comandini made it 4-0 to Atalanta before Frenchman Johan Micoud pulled one back for Parma. Whether that is enough to save Passarella remains to be seen with Parma now second bottom.

But there was rare cheer for cash-strapped Fiorentina who defeated Brescia 1-0 thanks to a goal in the fourth minute of injury time from Emiliano Moretti.

Chievo returned to the summit in the best way possible Saturday night by defeating previous leaders Inter Milan 2-1 at the San Siro.

Striker Bernardo Corradi put the minnows from Verona ahead before Christian Vieri equalised with a fluke goal which trickled in off his shin but Massimo Marazzina secured the points for Chievo with his eighth goal of the season.




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