Italian Football: Bold Lazio rise to the occasion

PAUL GASCOIGNE'S adaptation of Gone With The Wind seems to have been forgiven and forgotten in Rome following his midweek trickery against Torino in the Cup and a mature display to thwart Sampdoria and Des Walker in the League yesterday, writes Henry Winter.

The England midfielder played his part in Lazio's 2-1 home win before being substituted on the hour. Karlheinz Riedle headed Dino Zoff's men ahead early on after good work by Gascoigne before Giovanni Stroppa curled in a second three minutes from time. Roberto Mancini's sumptuous free-kick was little consolation.

Third-placed Lazio were one of only four teams to win. Italy's top two, the Milan sides, were held to 2-2 draws. Milan fell behind at Foggia, but should have won after Jean-Pierre Papin's header and Frank Rijkaard's stunning 20-yard volley had put them in the driving seat. But a dropped cross by Sebastiano Rossi (who had earlier saved a penalty) allowed Andrea Seno a chance to turn and score.

Milan remain eight points clear as Internazionale could only draw with lowly Udinese at the San Siro. Like their neighbours, Inter needed help from foreign parties, the Macedonian Darko Pancev and Ruben Sosa, of Uruguay, giving them a 2-0 half-time lead. This was soon squandered as Stephano Desideri and Adel Balbo brought Udinese level.

Juventus kept pace with Lazio with a 2-1 success over Cagliari. Roberto Baggio, who scored in the 15th minute last weekend, is clearly slowing - he took a minute longer yesterday. Pierluigi Casiraghi netted Juve's second. The only other victors were Torino (1-0 at Ancona) and Brescia (2-1 over Napoli).

ITALIAN LEAGUE: Ancona 0 Torino 1 (Poggi 67); Brescia 2 (Schenardi 55, Raducioiu 69) Napoli 1 (Zola 75); Foggia 2 (Bresciani 38, Seno 80) Milan 2 (Papin 56, Rijkaard 59); Genoa 2 (Skuhravy 53, 73 pen) Fiorentina 2 (Baiano 27, Batistuta 41); Internazionale 2 (Pancev 7, Sosa pen 38) Udinese 2 (Desideri 65, Balbo 84); Juventus 2 (R Baggio 16, Casiraghi 86) Cagliari 1 (Torricelli og 48); Lazio 2 (Riedle 8, Stroppa 87) Sampdoria 1 (Mancini 89); Parma 0 Atalanta 0; Pescara 1 (Allegri pen 88) Roma 1 (Carnevale 47).

----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts ----------------------------------------------------------------- Milan 18 14 4 0 40 16 32 Internazionale 18 10 4 4 34 25 24 Lazio 18 7 7 4 36 27 21 Juventus 18 7 7 4 32 23 21 Atalanta 18 9 3 6 22 23 21 Torino 18 5 9 4 19 14 19 Sampdoria 18 6 7 5 30 27 19 Parma 18 7 5 6 20 21 18 Cagliari 18 7 4 7 17 18 18 Fiorentina 18 5 7 6 31 30 17 Foggia 18 6 5 7 23 31 17 Brescia 18 5 6 7 18 24 16 Genoa 18 4 8 6 26 35 16 Udinese 18 6 3 9 26 26 15 Roma 18 5 5 8 20 20 15 Napoli 18 6 3 9 27 30 15 Ancona 18 4 2 12 27 43 10 Pescara 18 3 3 12 25 39 9 -----------------------------------------------------------------