A late hat-trick by Filippo Inzaghi earned Juventus a 4-0 win at Venezia yesterday, ensuring that the Turin giants stay top of the Serie A for another week.
The victory took Juventus's points tally to 47. Even the 2-1 win that AC Milan notched up later on against Lazio was not enough to see them wrest the lead from the Turin side. They did however jump ahead of their opponents. Lazio now lie third on 43 points to Milan's 44.
Alessandro Del Piero put Juventus in front by converting a 35th-minute penalty after Inzaghi was judged to have been felled by Venezia defender Gianluca Luppi. It was Del Piero's fifth goal of the season, all of them coming from the penalty spot.
But his side had to wait until the 79th minute for the safety of a second goal - followed by two more in injury-time - as Inzaghi trampled over Venezia's rickety defence.
Inter Milan defender Laurent Blanc had not scored in the league since arriving from Olympique Marseille last summer, but the World Cup winner bagged two as they won 3-1 at Piacenza.
Parma were a goal down within two minutes but 3-1 up within another 22 before losing a dingdong encounter 4-3 with 10 men at Verona.
Another sour note for Parma was that Guadeloupe-born Thuram, along with team-mates Ousmane Dabo and Saliou Lassissi, were targetted by boos from racist fans for the second week running.
Udinese hammered Bari 5-1 in a match between two sides with their eyes on a UEFA Cup place next season. Giuliano Giannichedda put Udinese ahead after only 90 seconds, but Michele Marcolini levelled within five minutes for Bari.
However, Udinese gradually turned the screw and bagged another four goals.
Elsewhere, veteran striker Giuseppe Signori cracked home a superb free-kick for Bologna in the 55th minute as they drew 1-1 at Lecce. Cagliari's relegation battle with Torino finished 1-1.
Barcelona underpinned their claim for a third straight Spanish league title with a thumping 4-0 success over Valladolid at the Nou Camp yesterday to go second ahead of Real Zaragoza, who slid to a 2-1 defeat at struggling Real Sociedad.
But Deportivo La Coruna kept comfortably ahead of the field as the Galicians chase their first ever championship following Saturday's 2-0 home win over Athletic Bilbao which leaves them five points clear of the Catalan club with 46 points from 25 matches.
Real Madrid, to their chagrin, saw rivals Barca move back ahead of them after the Madrilenos dropped two points in a 1-1 draw at Valencia. Real stand fourth, behind Zaragoza on goal difference.
Rayo Vallecano's early hopes of a place in Europe are fading after a 2-1 home reverse against Racing Santander, who hauled themselves away from the basement with goals from Ruiz Ismael and Claudio Arzeno.
