Italy round-up: Familiar faces to the fore

AC Milan and Juventus FC opened up a four-point gap at the top of Serie A with respective comfortable wins over Sampdoria UC and Brescia Calcio on Sunday.

Second-half double
Andriy Shevchenko's second-half double helped wrap up a 3-0 victory for Milan against Sampdoria after Jon Dahl Tomasson had given them the lead just before the interval.

Inzaghi out
Sampdoria goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli kept his side in the game with a fine early save from Rui Costa - but his mistake led to Tomasson's straightforward goal and despite missing Filippo Inzaghi, Milan overpowered their opponents. Shevchenko's seventh and eighth goals of the Serie A campaign, a left-foot finish and late header, carried him to the top of the scoring charts.

Baggio denied
Meanwhile, Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon had to save an early penalty from former Juve hero Roberto Baggio after defender Ciro Ferrara had barged Brescia striker Andrea Caracciolo in the fourth minute. But two minutes later Pavel Nedved opened the scoring and striker David Trezeguet's header made it 2-0 before half-time.

Goalless draw
The top two's nearest challengers, AS Roma, maintained their unbeaten record as they played out a goalless draw with Internazionale FC, now under the guidance of Alberto Zaccheroni, at the San Siro.

Adriano again
Elsewhere, goals from Damenico Morfeo, Marco Marchionni and Adriano gave fourth-placed Parma AC a 3-0 victory against Modena FC while fifth-placed S.S. Lazio won 2-1 after a frantic final ten minutes against Bologna FC. Substitute Simone Inzaghi chipped the opener over Gianluca Pagliuca but the strike was quickly followed by Ousmane Dabo's own goal. The game looked to be heading for a draw until Bernardo Corradi popped up to head an 89th-minute winner.

Passaro treble
Dino Fava Passaro scored a hat-trick but visitors Udinese Calcio had to settle for a draw after Massimo Margiotta's last-gasp strike rescued a 3-3 draw for AC Perugia at the Renato Curi. UEFA Cup hopefuls Perugia are still without a league win this season but looked on course at the interval with a 2-1 lead courtesy of Marco Di Loreto and Jay Bothroyd. Passaro completed his treble to swing the tie in Udinese's favour - but Margiotta has the final say.

Ancona boost
Another side yet to win this season, Ancona Calcio, could only manage a goalless draw against Reggina Calcio - but the point lifted them off the bottom on goal difference thanks to Empoli FC's narrow defeat at the hands of AC Chievo Verona on Saturday - Amauri's 60th-minute goal proving enough. The other game that day finished in a 2-1 victory for home side AC Siena against US Lecce.