No change suits Roma as leading trio all win

No change suits Roma as leading trio all win

ROME (Agencies): AS Roma coasted to a 4-1 victory at bottom
club Bari Sunday to stay firmly on course for what would be its
first Italian first division title in 18 years.

Goals from French defender Vincent Candela and Argentinean
forward Gabriel Batistuta had the game wrapped up at half-time
for the league leader while Brazilian defender Cafu and Batistuta
again added two more after the break.

Gionatha Spinesi scored a late consolation but could not save
Bari from relegation.

Second-placed Lazio stayed in contention with a 3-1 win
against Udinese in a match played in Florence while third-placed
Juventus also kept in the race with a comeback 4-1 triumph at
Bologna.

But with only three games left Roma, who leads Lazio by five
points and Juve by six, remains firm favorite to succeed city
rival Lazio as Serie A champion.

After a sluggish start French World Cup winner Candela came to
the rescue for Roma with a magical goal.

He juggled the ball at the edge of the D and his acrobatic
volley found the net via the fingertips of young Bari keeper
Antonio Narciso.

Minutes later the balance tilted further in the favor of Roma
when Bari defender Duccio Innocenti was sent off.

Now Roma was in charge and when Batistuta doubled the lead
from close range the 25,000 traveling Roma fans celebrated in
delight.

Cafu and Batistuta increased the party atmosphere before
Spinesi's vain salvo for Bari.

Lazio, forced to play its home game with Udinese at Florence
because of crowd misbehavior, felt quite at home in Tuscany in
front of 20,000 who had made the trip from the capital and its
Argentinean forward Hernan Crespo scored twice in 16 minutes,
putting himself on 23 goals for the season.

Stefano Fiore reduced arrears for Udinese from the penalty
spot against the side he will join next season but Argentinean
Lucas Martin Castroman notched a third for the champion after 83
minutes.

Bologna rocked Juventus after 20 minutes when its veteran
striker Giuseppe Signori fired home in off the inside of the
post.

But six minutes later Juve's French forward David Trezeguet
fired an equalizer for the Turin giant and in first-half injury
time Croatian defender Igor Tudor headed Juve ahead.

Trezeguet killed off Bologna with his second early in the
second half and Yugoslav replacement Darko Kovacevic added a
fourth.

Vicenza and Lecce had to settle for a 0-0 draw in a match
between two sides in relegation trouble.

In another basement dogfight, goals from Fabio Pecchia and
Brazilian Amauri gave Napoli a priceless 2-0 victory over Verona.

Luciano Zauri gave Atalanta an early lead against struggling
Reggina in Bergamo but the southerners hit back minutes later
when Andrea Zanchetta equalized. Reggina goalkeeper Massimo Taibi
saved an injury-time penalty from Atalanta's Marco Nappi and it
finished 1-1.

At Perugia veteran striker Dario Hubner put visitor Brescia
ahead from close range in first-half injury time and later added
a second from the penalty spot.

Greek striker Zisis Vryzas immediately pulled one back for
Perugia and three minutes from time Anselmo Robbiati grabbed a 2-
2 draw.

In Hamburg, Germany, Borussia Moenchengladbach and FC St.
Pauli on Sunday clinched the remaining two promotion spots and
will return to the first Bundesliga division next season.

Moenchengladbach, a German powerhouse in the late 1970s and
early 1980s, beat Chemnitz 3-0. St. Pauli won 2-1 in Nuremberg to
finish third in the second division and return to the top league
for the first time since 1997.

Nuremberg had already made sure of finishing as No. 1 in the
second division.

In Madrid, Spain, a 17th-minute goal by Marc Overmars proved
enough to give a cautious Barcelona a 1-0 victory at UEFA Cup
runner-up Alaves Saturday.

The Dutch international forward evaded two Alaves defenders
before firing a low shot home from just inside the penalty area.

The win moves fifth-place Barcelona up to 59 points, level
with No. 4 Mallorca, which visits Espanyol on Sunday, and boosts
its challenge for a Champions League berth next season.

Alaves, which stays in ninth place with 49 points, had its
Rumanian international rightback Cosmin Contra sent off in the
87th minute for two yellow cards.

Third-place Valencia now has 62 points, two behind No. 2
Deportivo de La Coruna, which plays at Oviedo on Sunday, and
eight behind leader Real Madrid, which visits Rayo Vallecano the
same day.