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.