Lowly Lecce hinder leaders

Leading duo AC Milan and AS Roma both dropped points on Sunday to allow Juventus FC back in to the Serie A title race.

Fabulous free-kick
Front-runners Milan's seven-game winning streak came to an end at the Comunale Via del Mare, where US Lecce took a surprise 19th-minute lead through Ernesto Javier Chevaton's curling free-kick. Andriy Shevchenko's 17th league goal of the season restored parity, but Milan were unable to find a winning goal.

Roma held
Second-placed Roma were also held to a draw, playing out a goalless encounter with winless bottom club Ancona Calcio, who kept only their fourth clean sheet of the season against Fabio Capello's side.

Magical Maresca
Those slips enabled Juventus to close the gap with a 1-0 victory against Reggina Calcio on Sunday evening. But Marcello Lippi's side had to wait until the second half to break the deadlock, Enzo Maresca easing the home fans' nerves with the solitary goal on 50 minutes.

Inter suffer
Juve remain in third position, now just a point behind Roma, who trail Milan by five points. The leaders' city rivals FC Internazionale were another high-flying club to stutter as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Udinese Calcio and slipped to fifth position. Gianpiero Pinzi and Dino Fava scored the goals for the visitors, who stay in seventh spot.

Bresciano brilliance
Parma AC moved level on points with Inter thanks to their
2-1 win away against AC Siena. Enrico Chiesa had given the home side a 42nd-minute lead but Parma's Alberto Gilardino levelled the scores ten minutes after the restart and Mark Bresciano's 87th-minute strike won the visitors all three points.

Spoils shared
The day's other games both ended in 1-1 draws. UC Sampdoria came from behind to share the spoils with Brescia Calcio and Modena FC held Bologna FC at the Renato Dall'Ara thanks to a second-half leveller from Nicola Amoruso.

Lazio climb
Saturday's games featured two teams in relegation trouble. Winless AC Perugia took on ninth-placed AC Chievo Verona but went down 2-0 and 16th-placed Empoli FC were defeated 3-0 by S.S. Lazio, who climbed into fifth place thanks to goals from Fernando Couto, Luciano Zauri and Jaap Stam.