Football / Italian Round-Up: Mancini strikes twice

WHILE the runaway leaders, Milan, dropped a rare point, only Sampdoria in the top half of Serie A managed to take advantage, beating Cagliari 2-0.

Roberto Mancini, Sampdoria's captain and leading scorer, improved his chances of a recall to the national team with two goals, one in each half.

Second-placed Internazionale, 11 points adrift, were held 1-1 at home by Roma, who beat Milan in the Italian Cup in midweek. Roma's Claudio Caniggia scored a second-half equaliser after Sergio Battistini's opener.

Torino stay in third place following a 1-1 draw at home to Atalanta while Juventus left their internationals, Roberto Baggio and Dino Baggio, on the bench and went on to lose 2-0 at lowly Brescia.

ITALIAN LEAGUE: Ancona 1 (Sogliano 37) Parma 1 (Melli 88); Brescia 2 (Raducioiu 22, Rossi 69) Juventus 0; Cagliari 0 Sampdoria 2 (Mancini 24, 70); Fiorentina 2 (Effenberg 47, Batistuta 54) Pescara 0; Genoa 0 Foggia 0; Internazionale 1 (Battistini 45) Roma 1 (Caniggia 65); Lazio 2 (Gascoigne 38, Bergodi 86) Milan 2 (Papin 9, Winter og 37); Napoli 3 (Ferrara 45, Policano 53, Fonseca 68) Udinese 0; Torino 1 (Aguilera 47) Atalanta 1 (Cosidpoti 64).

----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts ----------------------------------------------------------------- Milan 23 17 6 0 53 20 40 Internazionale 23 10 9 4 38 29 29 Torino 23 8 11 4 27 18 27 Lazio 23 9 8 6 45 35 26 Atalanta 23 10 6 7 28 29 26 Juventus 23 9 7 7 39 32 25 Sampdoria 23 9 7 7 37 34 25 Parma 23 9 6 8 26 26 24 Cagliari 23 9 6 8 22 23 24 Roma 23 7 9 7 27 23 23 Napoli 23 8 5 10 35 34 21 Fiorentina 23 6 8 9 37 38 20 Udinese 23 8 4 11 32 35 20 Foggia 23 6 8 9 25 36 20 Brescia 23 6 7 10 20 28 19 Genoa 23 4 10 9 28 42 18 Ancona 23 5 5 13 31 48 15 Pescara 23 4 4 15 30 50 12 -----------------------------------------------------------------