SERIE A ROUND 28
 
LAZIO SHOW THAT THEY'VE GOT A SET!

Lazio defeat Juventus in Turin and cut down what only weeks ago seemed to be
an unassailable 9 point lead to just 3 points. Roma and Inter drop points at
home and coupled with Parma's victory over Milan the race for a Champions
League place is wide open.

1 APRIL 2000

FIORENTINA			2-2			BOLOGNA
Batistuta 38, 88						Signori 12
							Andersson 57

Fiorentina didn't bother to defend Paganin's throw in leaving Signori unmarked
in front of goal and he volleyed past Toldo. Batistuta equalised with a
fantastic corkscrew header from Torricelli's cross. Andersson looked miles
offside when he hooked in Marocchi's long pass and Batistuta scored his
second with a powerful strike from the edge of the box.

Attendance : 33,000


JUVENTUS			0-1			LAZIO
							Simeone 66

Negro and Inzaghi Jr combined for the first chance, Negro playing
a one two with Inzaghi Jr in the box but weakly shooting at Van der Sar. At
the other end his older brother horribly controlled a raking pass from Ferrara
when in a great scoring position. Del Piero and Inzaghi blew several good
chances Del Piero in particular guilty of Sunday league finishing, heading
over inches in front of goal and tapping the ball to Ballotta after turning
Pancaro inside out. 

Iuliano made a fantastic block to deny Nedved a goal following more great
work from Inzaghi Jr, Pancaro did the same at the other end to deny
Zidane. Ballotta dived low to keep out a trademark Davids drive and
Inzaghi Jr almost turned the ball past his 'keeper from the resulting
corner. Ferrara was sent off for his second bookable offence on Inzaghi Jr.
Simeone brilliantly headed Veron's cross past Van der Sar. Ballotta made a
fantastic save in injury time from Del Piero's free kick. 

Davids, Zidane and Conte controlled the midfield. Juve would have won
this game comfortably but for the wretched finishing of Del Piero and
Inzaghi. 

The momentum is now definitely with Lazio and they have 6 games to make up a
3 point deficit. Juve have the tougher run in but Lazio have the distractions
of the Champions League and an Italian Cup final. Week 30 - Inter V Juve, 
Fiorentina V Lazio will  go a long way to deciding the Championship. The
Italian championship cannot be decided on goal difference so there is still a
possibly of a play off between Juve and Lazio for the title. :

JUVENTUS					LAZIO
Bologna (A)					Perugia (H)
Inter (A)						Fiorentina (A)
Fiorentina (H)					Piacenza (A)
Verona (A)					Venezia (H)
Parma (H)					Bologna (A)
Perugia (A)					Reggina (H)

Red Card : Ferrara 65 (Juventus)
Attendance : 55,000


2 APRIL 2000

BARI				1-0			CAGLIARI
D Andersson 22 (Pen)

Cassano threw himself down in the box, Andersson converted the penalty.
Mancini made an excellent save to keep out Mboma's header. Neqrouz went
close with two headers. Enyinnaya's spectacular diving header crashed off the
inside of a post. Franzone made an excellent save with his feet from 
De Gregori's header.

Attendance : 18,000


INTER				1-1			REGGINA
Recoba 13						Possanzini 82

Good interplay between Georgatos and Zamorano released Recoba and he fired
into the corner of the net. Muta forced Taibi to save from a tight angle.
Pirlo struck the crossbar with a free kick. Possanzini picked up the ball on
the right side of midfield and slalomed his way into the box before making
an opening and shooting inside Peruzzi's post. Moriero volleyed over from
close range. Inter had claims for a penalty turned down when Oshadogon
handled in the box.

Attendance : 62,000


PERUGIA				1-0			TORINO
Amoruso 21

Amoruso headed in another laser precision Rapajc free kick. Perugia created
plenty of chances but were let down by hurried finishing.

Attendance : 10,000


ROMA				1-1			UDINESE
Nakata 38						Sosa 51

Gargo made a spectacular clearance off his line from Gourenko's shot. Sosa
stole a ball in midfield and with Roma employing their traditional, suicidal
offside trap he almost had a clear run on goal but Lupatelli charged 50yds
off his line and Sosa shot well wide. Nakata and Delvecchio combined to give
Poggi a tap-in at the far post but he somehow shot wide. He made up for it
with a fabulous ball to Nakata for the goal, Turci came off his line but
Nakata went airborne and lifted the ball over Turci into the net.

Poggi and Delvecchio wasted two great chances at the start of the second half,
both chipping the ball over the goal with Turci on his back and they were
duly punished when Sosa tapped in Muzzi's centre thanks to some awful,
awful defending. Turci made an excellent save from Assuncao's free kick.
Both teams wasted chances late on to win the match.

Attendance : 65,000


VENEZIA				0-0			LECCE

Chimenti continued were he left off against Inter last week and rescued a point
for Lecce. He made an excellent save from Maniero early on, spectacularly
tipping a shot onto the post. Sesa had Lecce's best two chances, Benussi
brilliantly saved his free kick and he flashed a shot inches wide of the
post.

Attendance : 8,858


VERONA				1-0			PIACENZA
Brocchi 68

Gilardino missed an open goal when put through by Cristallini who was THE
assist machine in a version of Championship Manager for the PC about 3 years
ago. Brocchi won the points with a great shot from 30yds. Manighetti had
Piacenza's best chance but Frey made a great save.

Attendance : 18,026


PARMA				1-0			MILAN
Crespo 68

Crespo had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside inside the first 40
seconds. Milan should have been awarded a penalty for blatant handball
by Cannavaro but then they've won enough penalties this season. 

Bierhoff headed against the post from Guly's superb cross. He then got the
ball caught between his feet and Parma almost scored on the counter attack,
Thuram broke from defence and slipped in Amoroso with a fabulous pass,
Abbiati charged off his line and made a great save with his feet and Thuram
dragged the rebound wide. Bierhoff again shot wide, Albertini with the pass.
Maldini made a mess of a Cannavaro's pass allowing Crespo to turn and shoot
past Abbiati but for some reason the commentator's blamed Costacurta, go
figure. Fuser cleared Chamot's header off his line and came to the rescue
again seconds later when Buffon missed Shevchenko's header. Serginho's
violent cross was powerfully headed by Ambrosini but Buffon pulled off a
miraculous save. Bierhoff should have been sent off in injury time for a
blatant elbow on Thuram.

Attendance : 25,919