Soccer: Roma held up in chase for elusive title

ROME - AS Roma were held to a 1-1 home draw by nine-man AC Milan yesterday and saw their lead at the top of Serie A shaved to four points by Juventus, who beat Perugia 1-0 to stay in an enthralling title chase.

Defending champions Lazio conceded a dramatic injury-time goal to Frenchman Stephane Dalmat in a 1-1 draw against Inter Milan on neutral turf at Bari.

Lazio, who had led for most of the match, dropped to third place, five points behind their city neighbours and arch-rivals. With two matches to play, Roma have 71 points, Juventus 67 and Lazio 66.

Fourth-placed Parma, Roma's tricky opponents on the last day of the season, are a further 10 points back on 56 points after winning 2-1 at relegation-threatened Lecce.

Roma began the night knowing that a victory, combined with draws or defeats for both Juve and Lazio, would crown them champions for the first time in 18 years.

News of Hernan Crespo's first-half goal for Lazio dampened the atmosphere slightly at a packed Olympic Stadium but the real shock came in injury time at the end of the half when Francesco Coco headed home a Serginho cross to give AC Milan a 1-0 lead against the run of play.

Replacement Vincenzo Montella then came to Roma's rescue.

He hit the post with a 56th-minute volley and then ran rings round Milan's Kahka Kaladze three minutes later, prompting the Georgian midfielder to clatter him from behind.

Montella's French team mate Vincent Candela lost his temper and lashed out at Kaladze and both players were sent off by referee Graziano Cesari.

Five minutes later Montella brought Roma level with a spell-binding goal. Picking the ball up on the right flank he curled a superb left-foot lob from 25 metres over Sebastiano Rossi into the top corner of the goal.

Milan were reduced to nine men in the 67th minute when Brazilian wing-back Serginho was dismissed for dissent.

Lazio dominated their match against Inter and hit the crossbar twice in the first half-hour before Crespo put them ahead with his 24th goal of the season.

But with three minutes of injury time played, Inter's Uruguayan forward Alvaro Recoba fed Dalmat and the Frenchman blasted a fine right-foot shot into the Lazio goal from 30m.

Juventus also had a Frenchman to thank for their hard-fought defeat of Perugia, the side which beat them to deny them the title on the final day of last season.

Striker David Trezeguet got the only goal of the game 10 minutes into the second half.

* In Spain, Deportivo Coruna lost their 16-month unbeaten home record after they slumped to a 2-1 defeat against relegation-threatened Valladolid yesterday.

But despite their defeat, Deportivo are now assured of a place in next season's Champions League after Valencia were held to a 1-1 draw at struggling Racing Santander and Barcelona lost 1-0 at home to Real Oviedo.

With Real Madrid wrapping up their 28th title last Saturday, attention was really focused on the battle for the Champions League places and the struggle to avoid relegation.

Deportivo will be joined by the in-form Real Mallorca who secured their place in the competition with a classy 4-0 win over Rayo Vallecano. But the remaining place still has to be fought out between Valencia and Barcelona.

Barcelona face the unwelcome prospect of missing out on Europe's elite football competition if Valencia win just one of their remaining two matches.

The results mean that Deportivo stay second, nine points behind champions Real and two ahead of Real Mallorca.

Valencia follow a further two points behind on 63 points, four clear of Barcelona.



* In the Dutch first division, Ajax Amsterdam moved up to third to clinch a place in next season's Champions League qualifying rounds after beating AZ Alkmaar 5-1 in their final match yesterday.

Roda JC Kerkrade had previously held third spot but lost 3-2 at RKC Waalwijk to finish fourth, two points behind former European Cup champions Ajax.

Roda claimed a place in the UEFA Cup alongside Utrecht, who thrashed Groningen 6-0 to squeeze through - like Roda - on goal difference ahead of Vitesse Arnhem, who could only draw 2-2 at lowly Sparta Rotterdam, and RKC.

All four clubs finished with 59 points from their 34 matches.

With PSV Eindhvoen already champions and Feyenoord certain of second spot, Roda were the only team with their fate in their own hands.

Ajax, RKC, Utrecht and Vitesse all needed to win and hope for other results to go in their favour.

Roda were 3-0 down at RKC after 67 minutes, although Garba Lawal scored twice in the last five minutes to pull them back to 3-2.