THREE WAY DANCE

Roma need a late winner from Candela to remain top. Juventus and Lazio keep
up the pressure with easy wins. Injury hit Inter make light of their
absentees to defeat Udinese. Pressure mounts on Zaccheroni following defeat
in gale force winds at Fiorentina.

4 DECEMBER 1999

JUVENTUS			2-0			BOLOGNA
Inzaghi 55, 70

An evenly contested first half saw both teams go close on several occasions.
Del Piero looked suspiciously offside when he controlled a long pass from
Bachini and set-up Inzaghi for his first. Another easy finish for Inzaghi
following good interplay between Zidane and Zambrotta.

Attendance : 40,000


PERUGIA				0-2			LAZIO
							Salas 37
							Conceicao 62

Salas headed in Boksic's cross. Conceicao ran onto Veron's header and
blasted the ball high past Mazzantini. Rapajic struck the crossbar twice.


5 DECEMBER 1999

BARI				3-2			PIACENZA
Marcolini 40						Rizzitelli 30
Neqrouz 53, 75						Dionigi 65

Rizzitelli, who recently celebrated his 73rd birthday, gave Piacenza the
lead when he bundled in Piovani's cross. Collauto's wickedly curled free
kick rebounded off the crossbar and Olivares blasted over the bar when
brilliantly put in by Masinga's awesome back heel. Marcolini punished
Manighetti's hospital pass to equalise.

Bari took the lead from a corner, Osmanovski flicked up the ball, hooked
it over his head, Masinga flicked it on and Neqrouz smashed a volley past
Roma. Piacenza scored a fortunate equaliser, Stroppa's free kick deflected
off a Bari defender and then off Dionigi giving Mancini no chance. Neqrouz
headed in the winner from Collauto's corner.

Attendance : 14,000


INTER				3-0			UDINESE
Recoba 20
Vieri 57
Russo 90


Vieri headed on a long pass upfield to Recoba he showed great strength to
hold off Bertotto and fired a low shot past De Sanctis. Recoba has scored
17 Serie A goals in just 33 appearances, impressive enough but even more so
when you consider half of those appearances were as a substitute. De Sanctis
made a great save from Jugovic's half volley.

Recoba played the ball into Jugovic and went looking for the return pass,
Jugovic blasted the ball goalwards, it took a deflection and fell perfectly
for Vieri, who was miles offside when he put the ball in the net. A brilliant
pass from Dabo released Zanetti but he wasted a great opportunity by
shooting wide with Vieri waiting in the centre. Zanchi almost scored an
own goal when attempting to cut out a Vieri cross but the impressive
De Sanctis made another great save. Vieri took a leaf our of Ronaldo's book
and dribbled his way through the Udinese defence, the ball deflected off
Zanchi and 18 year old Russo coolly slotted the ball past De Sanctis.

Vieri was fortunate to stay on the pitch for persistent handball, he escaped
with a yellow card. A stroll for Inter. Udinese were awful.

Attendance : 55,000


PARMA				4-1			TORINO
Crespo 5, 58						Cruz 90
Ortega 45
Cruz 75 (og)

Fuser launched a ball upfield to Crespo, the Torino defence stood still
waiting for the offside trap and Crespo struck a low half volley past former
Parma 'keeper and cigarette burning maniac Bucci. Crespo forced Bonomi into
making a treacherous pass across the face of goal fortunately Ortega shot
against the post but he made no mistake minutes later, cushioning another
Fuser longball on his chest and blasting a sweet left foot volley past Bucci.

Crespo bagged his second from close range thanks to a beautiful first time
centre by Walem. Diawara flattened Ortega in the box but he missed the spot
kick. It must be one of the first times Ortega has actually won a clean
penalty. Cruz turned the ball into his own net and scored from a free kick
at the other end.

Attendance : 19,000


ROMA				3-2			LECCE
Totti 41							Sesa 50
Candela 63, 86						Pivotto 69

Aldair made a run from defence and picked out Montella on the edge of the
box, his back heel was violently despatched by Totti. A fantastic free kick
by Sesa got Lecce back on level terms. Bonomi made a miraculous clearance
from Montella as he followed up after Chimenti blocked Delvecchio's shot.
Candela put Roma in front with a missile from outside the box. Pivotto rose
majestically to head in Sesa's perfectly placed corner. Sesa's crossing is
World Class. Another incredible tackle by Bonomi denied Montella a certain
goal. Candela won the match with a well placed shot from outside the area.

The ref dished out 8 yellow card, 6 for Lecce and 2 for Roma.

Attendance : 55,287


VENEZIA				2-0			REGGINA
Maniero 56, 67

Two miserable pieces of finishes by Kallon either side of half time came back
to haunt Reggina. Bettarini launched a thrown in, Petkovic headed on and
Maniero turned and shot Venezia into the lead. Petkovic floated in a corner
Maniero poked in at the far post.

Attendance : 8,435


VERONA				2-0			CAGLIARI
Aglietti 34
Adailton 36

Aglietti headed in Adailton's cross and the Brazilian tapped in a second.
Mboma blasted a half volley wide from close range. Frey made a magnificent
diving save to keep out Oliveira's header. 12 weeks into the season and
Cagliari have yet to win a game.

Attendance : 12,250


FIORENTINA			2-1			MILAN
Batistuta 21						Bierhoff 56 secs
Heinrich 41

Bierhoff headed in Maldini's superbly flighted cross. An idiotic mistake by
Costacurta gifted Batistuta the equaliser. Albertini smashed a shot at Toldo,
Helveg centre for Shevchenko and he pathetically kicked fresh air. The
defensive mistakes continued, Chiesa latched onto Maldini's hospital pass
and blasted a volley goalwards, Rossi dived low to save. Rossi pathetically
punched out a speculative shot from Di Livio and Costacurta reacted like the
useless slow twat that he is as Heinrich turned in the rebound.

Batistuta flashed a shot wide from the area and went even closer with his
shot just sailed over the crossbar following a superb run from Torricelli,
who was absolutely magnificent. Bierhoff wasted two gifts, as the Fiorentina
defence stood appealing for offside he raced clear and with only the 'keeper
to beat he shot against the inside of the post. Minutes later Toldo, who was
awful, spilled the ball as Shevchenko steamed in Bierhoff slipped as he
shot and Toldo easily saved. Another mistake by Costacurta gave Batistuta a
run on goal, Rossi blocked his shot and Shevchenko broke on the counter
attack, cut inside the box and shot straight at Toldo. In the final minute
Rossi came up for a corner and almost scored a dramatic equaliser. His shot
was a lot better than those by Bierhoff and Shevchenko.

Another pathetic defence display from Milan. Zaccheroni will do well to see
out the remainder of the year.

Attendance : 36,000