AC MILAN brought high flying Inter Milan down to earth last night in a battling 1-1 derby draw which cost Inter top slot in the Serie A.
Roberto Baggio scored for Milan after just four minutes, but Frenchman Youri Djorkaeff soon levelled from the penalty spot after Paolo Maldini floored Chilean striker Ivan Zamorano.
Milan were left to rue three glaring opportunities which went begging, two of them falling to Baggio and one to Croatian Zvonimir Bob an with only Inter goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca to beat.
Consolation for Milan was a territorial domination - particularly in the second half - which showed they could once again be serious title candidates. Consolation for Inter - they are now third behind Bologna and surprise leaders Vicenza - was earning a point from a match which they never looked like winning.
Striker Gabriele Ambrosetti made Serie A history yesterday, scoring twice in Vicenza's 2-0 win over Reggiana to leave his side leading the Italian championship for the first time.
He turned home Marcelo Otero's cross in the 34th minute for Vicenza's opener before clinching his side's victory with a second midway through the second half.
Bologna, who won their last league title in 1964, made light work of Atalanta winning 3-1 while Sampdoria were left to rue the 80th minute dismissal of defender Emanuele Pesaresi for a second yellow card in their 1-1 draw with Lazio at the Olympic stadium.
Real Madrid replaced Barcelona at the top of the Spanish table thanks to a hat trick by Croatian international Davor Suker in the 4-2 win over Valencia.
With 32 points from 14 games Real go top by one point after Barcelona's 2-1 defeat at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. A further point behind Barcelona are unbeaten Deportivo Coruna, 4-1 winners over struggling Logrones.
It was Real's best performance of the season and they showed some real steel as they went behind after 12 only minutes. Teenager Raul sealed the game with a superb goal to make it 4-1 before Valencia pulled one back from the penalty spot in the dying minutes.
VfB Stuttgart, who scored after only 38 seconds, failed to recapture top spot in the Bundesliga when they lost 3-1 at strugglers Duisburg yesterday. Stuttgart began the weekend as league leaders but lost their place on Saturday when Bayern Munich went top after a 2-1 win over bottom club Hansa Rostock.
Stuttgart slipped to second, level on points with Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen. Dortmund beat Werder Bremen 4-0 on Saturday while Leverkusen lost 3-1 at St Pauli.
Arch rivals Feyenoord and Ajax fought out a highly charged 2-2 draw in the Dutch first division but the match was marred by rival fans fighting in the streets of Rotterdam, Ajax's team coach being stoned, and the kick off delayed by 15 minutes because of the crowd violence.
Three penalties in the first 15 minutes only added to the tense atmosphere. Ajax's Patrick Kluivert missed a penalty after two minutes, but Ronald Kocman put Feyenoord ahead from the spot two minutes later. After 15 minutes Ronald de Boer scored a penalty for Ajax to make it 1-1, but within a minute Bernard Schuiteman restored Feyenoord's lead. Kluivert gave Ajax a share of the points with a second equaliser midway through the second half.
