Italy: Ancelotti turns on Milan referee

AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti blamed a refereeing mistake for his side's 1-1 draw with Lecce on Sunday.

Ancelotti was furious that Ronaldinho's 79th minute strike was cancelled out by Andrea Esposito's last-gasp header at the Via del Mare as Lecce were awarded a controversial late free-kick.

The two dropped points also cost the Rossoneri their place at the top of the table, with city rivals and defending champions Internazionale assuming leadership of Serie A following their 1-0 win over Udinese.

"We had a lot of opportunities," lamented Ancelotti. "We were well balanced and consistent throughout the match, but we conceded a goal in the final moments, not because of a defensive lapse in concentration, but because of an error in the arbitration."

Meanwhile, vice-president Adriano Galliani has warned Milan that the loss of two points could well come back to haunt them.

"We continue to drop points where we shouldn't and in the long run this may come back to haunt us," warned Galliani. "We'll keep on fighting for the Scudetto, but we just can't accept results like this."

Elsewhere, AS Roma full-back Cicinho has apologised after his last-minute own goal handed Bologna a share of the spoils in Saturday's 1-1 draw at the Renato Dall'Ara.

The Brazil international headed Marco Di Vaio's hopeful cross past his own goalkeeper in the dying moments of the game to cancel out Francesco Totti's opener and leave Luciano Spalletti's side toiling in 17th place in the Serie A table.

"I am deeply sorry, but I feel calm as I could not have done things differently," said the former Real Madrid defender. "Truth be told, I just threw myself toward the ball trying to drive it out for a corner. I saw a shadow on my left and felt that, if I had moved out of the way, I would have committed a big mistake. The Bologna striker was right there, about to meet the ball and easily turn it in. Either way, people would have said I was at fault."