Juventus close gap as Milan slip up

European round-up

European round-up

Roberto Murgita's second-half header gave unfancied Vicenza a 1-1 draw yesterday with Milan, who saw their lead at the top of Italy's Serie A cut to two points.

Murgita struck three minutes after the break, making amends for a series of squandered opportunities, to cancel out Stefano Eranio's fiercely struck 43rd-minute opener for the visitors and thereby retain a two-year unbeaten home record.

Juventus, Parma and Napoli are all on 14 points, two less than Milan. Alessandro Del Piero set Juventus on their way before further goals by Fabrizio Ravanelli and Antonio Conte secured a 3-1 win over Padova.

After their midweek Cup-Winners' Cup drubbing from Sweden's Halmstads, Parma earned a 1-1 draw with Roma at the Olympic stadium, thanks to a late equaliser by Dino Baggio. Daniel Fonseca had given Roma the lead. Napoli's 1-0 win at Piacenza was secured with a late goal from their Brazilian sweeper, Andre Cruz. Stefan Schwarz, Fiorentina's former Arsenal midfielder, was sent off in his side's 2-1 defeat at Sampdoria.

PSV Eindhoven, midweek conquerors of Leeds, kept up the pursuit of the Dutch league leaders, Ajax, with a 7-1 demolition of Groningen, with midfielder Boudewijn Zenden hitting a hat-trick. Ajax are five points clear of PSV after a 4-2 win at Feyenoord, who became the first side to score in the league against the Amsterdam club this season. Ajax were two down after seven minutes but recovered to take the lead before half-time.

The Spanish league leaders, Atletico Madrid, earned a 1-0 win away to Valladolid. Their Argentine midfielder, Diego Simeone, scored the only goal. The French pace-setters, Metz, extended their unbeaten run to 14 matches with a disappointing 0-0 draw away to Lille. Second-placed Lens failed to make up ground, also drawing 0-0 with St-Etienne. In Germany, a 10th-minute goal by Jurgen Klinsmann secured a 1-0 win for Bayern Munich at St Pauli.