Lazio steal a 3-1 away victory over Bari. Fiorentina and Milan win at home
while Parma and Inter are held. Juve crash away to Cagliari and find
themselves 14 points behind the leaders and well and truly out of the
championship race. Incredibly no red cards this week.

31 January 1999

BARI				1-3			LAZIO
Knudsen 72						Lombardo 21
							Vieri 35, 86

Mancini (Bari's 'keeper) handled the ball outside the box, realised what he 
had done, dropped the ball and Popeye scored in an empty net. De Ascentis
played a hospital pass back into his own penalty area and Salas centred for 
Vieri to volley in at the far post, great finish. Substitute Knudsen, who
had a great game, put Bari back in the match when he scored from an 
indirect free kick awarded for dangerous play. Vieri grabbed his second
with a powerful header from Conceicao's cross.

Bari played the football, Lazio continually punted long balls into attack
and I can't recall them stringing many passes together. Lazio were saved
on several occasions by some outstanding last minute blocking from Pancaro
and Stankovic. An ugly performance from Lazio but they came away with the 
points. Conceicao ran like a dog, tremendous workrate if somewhat tempered
by wild tackles.

Attendance : 28,000


CAGLIARI			1-0			JUVENTUS
Berretta 17

Berretta volleyed in O'Neill's free kick. Esnaider headed wide from point
blank range. Cagliari should have been awarded a penalty when Montero
handled in the box but got one minutes later when Iuliano had his hands on
Muzzi in the box. Peruzzi pulled off a brilliant save. Juve bombed forward
and went close on numerous occasions. In another season with a different
ref they would have been awarded a penalty but what goes around comes
around.

Attendance : 25,000


FIORENTINA			3-0			VICENZA
Falcone 36
Torricelli 39
Batistuta 82

Falcone got Fiorentina off the mark from close range thanks to great work by
Edmundo. Torricelli scored a Batistuta type diagonal shot thanks to 
Batistuta's pass and Serie A's top scorer added to his tally with a 
fantastic free kick.

Attendance : 30,862


MILAN				3-2			SALERNITANA
Bierhoff 3, 60						Giampaolo 7
Weah 25							Del Grosso 14

Bierhoff headed in Guly's cross. Abbiati saved brilliantly from Di Vaio's
header but Giampaolo scored from the rebound. Del Grosso gave Salernitana a
shock lead with fantastic strike from about 30yds. Guly had to be
substituted after a clash with his own team-mate Sala. A quickly taken free
kick by Boban led to Milan's equaliser, Bierhoff ran onto his pass and 
centred for Weah. After missing a couple of chances Bierhoff scored the 
winner with another header this time from Morfeo's cross. Abbiati pulled 
off a Pagliuca like save from Bolic's header. Di Vaio struck the post, 
Di Michele and Fresi saw their shots cannon off the crossbar.

Another fortunate win by Milan who were without Leonardo and Albertini not
that he was a great loss. Naomi Campbell was in the crowd. Man United get
'Posh' Spice Milan get Naomi Campbell. There's no substitute for class.

Attendance : 60,000


PARMA				2-2			VENEZIA
Dino Baggio 16						Maniero 45, 52
Chiesa 85

Dino Baggio headed Parma into the lead thanks to Veron's great cross. Little
and large linked up again for Venezia's first, Recoba with the superb 
through ball, Maniero with the finish. Maniero grabbed his second goal 
against his old club with a superb half volley once again Recoba supplied
the pass. Inexplicably Recoba and Maniero were substituted ironically Tutta
came on for Maniero. Fuser chipped the ball over Venezia's defence and 
Chiesa poked in the equaliser. 

Attendance : 24,000


PERUGIA				2-0			SAMPDORIA
Kaviedes 20
Matrecano 25

Kaviedes punished a hospital pass from Mannini with an unreal half volley 
from 35yds. He's the World's leading scorer from 1998 you know, 41 goals in
43 games. Ferron punched out Nakata's drive, Matrecano headed in the
rebound.

Kaviedes has now scored 2 goals in 3 Serie A games, a decade ago it used to
take foreigners 6-12 months to adapt to Serie A, just shows how the standard
of defending has changed. Of course the fact that teams are a lot more 
attack minded thanks largely to Sacchi helps.

Attendance : 10,000


PIACENZA			0-0			INTER

Fiori was the busier 'keeper but Piacenza had more shots.

Attendance : 16,000


ROMA				1-1			EMPOLI
Paulo Sergio 55						Cerbone 91

Both 'keepers performed heroics although Sereni was helped by some horrid
finishing by Delvecchio, Chimenti of course wasn't helped by what Roma call
a defence. Paulo Sergio tapped in Alenitchev's cross, Cerbone scored the
equaliser as Empoli once again walked through Roma's offside trap. Totti
returned from injury mid-way through the second half. He's wasted at Roma.

Attendance : 41,126


UDINESE			2-0			BOLOGNA
Sosa 13, 73

Guidolin finally resisted playing the useless Poggi ahead of Sosa and it
paid off big with the Argentinean grabbing two headed goals. The first
from a corner and the second from Bachini's cross.