Weah underlines Milan's ambition

ITALIAN ROUND-UP

The Liberian striker George Weah, who won Africa's Golden Ball Award last week, scored three minutes from time to give Milan a 1-0 win at Lazio yesterday and open up a four-point lead at the top of the Italian league, writes Catherine Riley. It was Weah's fifth Serie A goal since his move from Paris St- Germain.

Milan now have 27 points from 12 matches, extending their lead over second- placed Parma, who owed their 1-1 draw at Napoli to Gianfranco Zola's second-half penalty against his former club. Fausto Pizzi gave the Neapolitans a 38th-minute lead after the home side had hit both bar and post with efforts from Massimo Agostini and Alain Boghossian.

Fiorentina moved into third place on 22 points after Gabriel Batistuta's goal earned them a last-gasp win at Padova. The Florentine club were joined by Atalanta, promoted from Serie B last season, who notched up their fourth successive win, 3-1 over Vicenza, with two goals from Sandro Tovalieri.

Internazionale continued their rehabilitation under their English coach, Roy Hodgson. They recovered from the third-minute dismissal of Gianluca Festa for retaliatory use of the elbow to defeat Cremonese 2-0 with goals from Argentina's Javier Zanetti, his first in Italy, and Maurizio Ganz.

Enrico Chiesa claimed his first-ever hat-trick as Sampdoria defeated Bari 3-1 for their first away win of the season.

Igor Protti, the league's leading scorer, scored a penalty for the home side a minute after the break. Another last-minute goal, this time from Abel Balbo, earned Roma a 1-1 draw at his old club Udinese.