Roma beats Verona 3-1, Juventus held to draw

Roma beats Verona 3-1, Juventus held to draw

ROME (Reuters): AS Roma came from behind to beat Verona 3-1 on
Sunday while Roberto Baggio scored a late equaliser against his
old club to give Brescia a dramatic 1-1 draw at Juventus.

The results meant Roma extended their lead at the top of the
Italian first division to nine points over Juventus and 12 over
third-placed Lazio, who face AC Milan at the San Siro later on
Sunday.

Roma trailed at halftime to a 27th minute goal from Argentine
midfielder Mauro Camoranesi but two headers from Vincenzo
Montella and a 60th minute strike from Gabriel Batistuta secured
their victory.

Juve led for most of their match thanks to a fine volley from
Gianluca Zambrotta but Baggio rounded Edwin Van der Sar in the
86th minute to score his 167th Serie A goal and give Brescia an
unlikely point.

Christian Vieri scored a hat-trick as Inter Milan won 3-2 at
Perugia despite having French international defender Laurent
Blanc sent off in the 48th minute for a second bookable offence.

Inter stay sixth, three points behind Parma, who were held 0-0
by Bologna, and level on points with Atalanta Bergamo, who drew
1-1 at home with Napoli.

Reggina goalkeeper Massimo Taibi scored with an 88th minute
header from a corner to give his side a last-gasp 1-1 draw at
home to Udinese.

In London Arsenal began one of the most important stages of
its season with a well-deserved 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in
a North London derby at Highbury on Saturday.

However, both managers agreed that the outcome of this match
would have little impact on the April 8 FA Cup semifinal between
the two sides.

Arsenal, which also meets Valencia in the first leg of its
Champions League quarterfinals at home on Wednesday before next
weekend's clash at Old Trafford, dominated Saturday's match and
took all three points thanks to late goals from Robert Pires (70)
and Thierry Henry (87).

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said after what proved to be
something of a phoney war before the cup match: "Of course it is
always good to win and it gives us a psychological boost.

"But I don't think this defeat will have a negative effect on
Spurs as next Sunday is a much bigger game for them, the biggest
game of their season -- and our big game is on Wednesday."

Taking charge of the side for the 250th time, Wenger also
highlighted Tottenham's injury problems as one reason for his
side's dominance.

"Look at the Spurs players who were missing today -- they were
without Sol Campbell, Serhiy Rebrov, Darren Anderton, Tim
Sherwood, Ledley King, Stephen Clemence and they had a lot of
youngsters playing in their place.

"Not all of those players will be back next week, but it will
be a very different game."

Tottenham's caretaker manager David Pleat also played down the
significance of the result of a derby that took a long time to
come to life and rarely set pulses racing.

"We had four or five young reserves out there and I thought
they did superbly for the first half and did well until Arsenal
scored late on. But we will have a very different side out next
week and it will be a very different game.

Pleat took charge of the side for Saturday's game following
the sacking of George Graham two weeks ago and will stand down
when Glenn Hoddle takes over as Spurs' new manager on Monday.

In Vicenza, Italy, Portuguese playmaker Rui Costa scored a
76th-minute goal Saturday to earn Fiorentina a 1-1 road draw
against Vicenza, though the Florence squad remains without a win
in its last 11 games.

Rui Costa capitalized on a defensive error, firing a close-
range shot into the left corner from the right of the goal.

It was the third draw in three games since Roberto Mancini
took over as Fiorentina coach from Turkey's Fatih Terim, who had
finished up winless in his last eight league games.

After Fiorentina dominated action early, Vicenza scored on its
first rush of the game in the 10th minute.

The host's Vincenzo Sommese launched a dangerous cross that
Fiorentina's Czech defender Tomas Repka accidentally knocked past
teammate Francesco Toldo for an own goal.

Toldo, an Italian national team 'keeper, made several key
saves, including a kick stop on a Lamberto Zauli close-range shot
in the closing minutes.