Italy round-up: Juventus keep Chievo at arm's length

Juventus FC kept themselves within three points of the top of Serie A with a confident 3-1 win against AC Chievo Verona in Sunday's late match.

Ferrara on target
The win lifts Juventus to third place, behind new leaders AS Roma and Internazionale FC. Ciro Ferrara's first-half header from Alessandro del Piero's corner put the visitors ahead before Fabio Moro's own goal two minutes after the break gave Juventus some breathing space.

Unfortunate Moro
Chievo, who defied expectations by remaining in contention at the top of the table until the winter break, hit back through Massimo Marazzina's 58th-minute effort but the unfortunate Moro then gave away a penalty for handling in the box, which was converted by Del Piero in the 71st minute.

Surprise draw
Roma capitalised on Inter's surprise 1-1 draw at bottom club AC Venezia to return to the top on Sunday after a comfortable win over Piacenza FC.

In-form Batistuta
Brazil midfielder Marcos Assunção gave Roma the lead in the 14th minute from a 20-metre free-kick. Gabriel Batistuta underlined his return to form with his third goal in as many games after returning from injury to secure a 2-0 victory against the only side to have beaten Roma in the league this season. 

No win since 1967
Inter, leaders at the start of the day, went ahead courtesy of Christian Vieri's 14th goal of the season. It was the Italy striker's 14th goal in just 12 games and looked to be sending Inter to their first win at Venezia since 1967. But Filippo Maniero ensured Venezia's resilience was rewarded when he fired in a 70th-minute penalty after being felled by Vratislav Gresko.

Indifferent season
Milan AC's indifferent season continued as they let a two-goal lead slip at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium. Ukraine forward Andriy Shevchenko looked to have put his poor form behind him with an early penalty and things seemed to be going according to plan when Serginho doubled the home side's lead with less than a quarter of the game gone. But Udinese forward Roberto Muzzi pulled one back and, after Shevchenko had missed his second penalty in as many matches, Gennaro Scarlato equalised. Danish international Martin Jørgensen then sealed Udinese's win after good work from Muzzi.

Mero tribute
Luca Toni scored twice to give Brescia Calcio the points in a 3-1 win over lowly US Lecce. Roberto Baggio, starting his first game since November, created the first goal for Toni, who celebrated by showing a T-shirt with a message of support to defender Mero, killed in a car accident last week. The game also saw the introduction of Bulgarian forward Valeri Bojinov, who at 15 is the youngest foreign player ever to feature in Serie A.

More misery for Lazio
Torino Calcio forward Cristiano Lucarelli ensured S.S. Lazio suffered more misery with the only goal at the Delle Alpi stadium and AC Fiorentina's fight for survival took another knock as they lost 2-0 at Atalanta BC, goals from Inacio Pia and Italy midfield player Cristiano Doni doing the damage. Perugia beat Hellas-Verona FC, who had led 1-0 at half-time, thanks to three second-half goals in the day's other game.