Milan strengthen cup campaign

By Paolo Corradini

AC Milan secured a 2-1 win at US Città di Palermo in the first leg of their Italian Cup second-round tie as Udinese Calcio claimed an extraordinary victory against US Lecce and ACF Fiorentina defeated Parma FC.

Crespo opener
It took 55 minutes for Hernán Crespo to open the scoring for Milan in Sicily, and 14 minutes later Clarence Seedorf doubled the lead. Luca Toni pulled one back late on to give Palermo hope for the second leg.

Nine-goal thriller
There were goals aplenty at Lecce as Udinese claimed a thrilling 5-4 win in a game the home side led 3-0. Lecce made an excellent start with Cristian Ledesma converting a penalty after eleven minutes, Samuele Dalla Bona doubling the lead on 29 minutes and Valeri Bojinov scoring the third two minutes later. But Udinese responded. Felipe scored after 34 minutes, Davide Di Michele pulled it back to 3-2 just before half-time and Antonio Di Natale levelled 12 minutes into the second period.

Dramatic finish
Bojinov restored Lecce's lead after 67 minutes but Udinese equalised again with a goal from Di Michele. In a dramatic finish Di Natale scored again two minutes from time to put Udinese ahead. Then, in injury time, Udinese goalkeeper Samir Handanovic was shown the red card after fouling Mirko Vucinic in the penalty area. Forward Di Michele replaced the Slovenia goalkeeper between the posts and saved Vucinic's shot.

Fiorentina win
Javier Portillo's long-distance headed on 27 minutes and Jaime Andres Valdes's powerful shot eleven minutes from time gave Fiorentina a well deserved 2-0 win against Parma. The first legs are completed on Sunday with the returns in the second week of January deciding the quarter-final lineup.