Italian Football: Gascoigne left on the sidelines

PAUL GASCOIGNE watched from the sidelines as Lazio were held at home by Juventus in Rome's Stadio Olimpico yesterday.

The England midfield player had declared himself fit after a hip injury which caused his premature exit from the previous week's game at Napoli. His coach, Dino Zoff, was not so sure, selecting Aron Winter, Thomas Doll and Karl- Heinz Riedle as the three foreign players against Juve, their rivals for a Uefa Cup place. 'I didn't play Gascoigne because I always pick the foreigners according to their physical condition,' Zoff said.

Whatever the background to Gascoigne's absence, it did nothing to dampen speculation about his possible departure from Lazio - with the directors of Newcastle United reportedly having met to discuss the prospects of bringing Gazza back home to his first club.

Another England midfielder, David Platt, also missed yesterday's match with the knee injury which caused his return to England last week for treatment. Lazio's Giuseppe Signori, the top scorer in Serie A, had a penalty saved in the third minute before Roberto Baggio gave Juventus the lead. The home defender, Roberto Cravero, equalised late in the first half.

Lazio and Juventus both dropped a place as Atalanta advanced to third in the table thanks to a last-minute winner from their Uruguayan libero, Paolo Montero, against Ancona. The league leaders, Milan, predictably maintained their eight-point advantage, but they needed a late penalty from their Yugoslavian international, Dejan Savicevic, to see off Genoa in the San Siro.

Roma's Ruggiero Rizzitelli scored a 'hat-trick' within 13 minutes at Udinese. Unfortunately, one was an own goal.

ITALIAN LEAGUE: Atalanta 2 (Rambaudi 1, Montero 90) Ancona 1 (Agostini 75); Foggia 1 (Kolyvanov 53) Fiorentina 0; Lazio 1 (Cravero 42) Juventus 1 (R Baggio 15); Parma 1 (Asprilla 51) Napoli 1 (Fonseca 62); Milan 1 (Savicevic pen 78) Genoa 0; Pescara 0 Cagliari 1 (Moriero 76); Sampdoria 1 (Corini 45) Brescia 0; Torino 1 (Scifo 66) Internazionale 2 (Sosa pen 58, Fontolan 61); Udinese 1 (Rizzitelli og 25) Roma 2 (Rizzitelli 19, 32).

----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts ----------------------------------------------------------------- Milan. . . . . . . . . . . .17 14 3 0 38 14 31 Internazionale. . . . . . . 17 10 3 4 32 23 23 Atalanta. . . . . . . . . . 17 9 2 6 22 23 20 Lazio. . . . . . . . . . . .17 6 7 4 34 26 19 Juventus. . . . . . . . . . 17 6 7 4 30 22 19 Sampdoria. . . . . . . . . .17 6 7 4 29 26 19 Cagliari. . . . . . . . . . 17 7 4 6 16 16 18 Torino. . . . . . . . . . . 17 4 9 4 18 14 17 Parma. . . . . . . . . . . .17 7 3 7 20 21 17 Fiorentina. . . . . . . . . 17 5 6 6 29 28 16 Foggia. . . . . . . . . . . 17 6 4 7 21 29 16 Roma. . . . . . . . . . . . 17 5 5 7 19 19 15 Napoli. . . . . . . . . . . 17 6 3 8 26 28 15 Genoa. . . . . . . . . . . .17 4 7 6 24 33 15 Udinese. . . . . . . . . . .17 6 2 9 24 24 14 Brescia. . . . . . . . . . .17 4 6 7 16 23 14 Ancona. . . . . . . . . . . 17 4 2 11 27 42 10 Pescara . . . . . . . . . . 17 3 2 12 24 38 8 -----------------------------------------------------------------