Italian Football: Juventus are rescued by Platt's strike

DESPITE his pounds 6.6m price tag, David Platt has been unable to command a regular place in the Juventus side since his arrival from Bari. Yesterday, though, the England midfielder started his first Serie A game for his new club, and responded with a late equaliser to earn a 2-2 draw at Genoa.

Platt, who is one of four foreigners fighting for three places at the Turin team, struck in the 73rd minute, beating Stefano Tacconi, the Genoa goalkeeper, after a neat exchange with Roberto Baggio. By then Juventus were down to 10 men, after their winger, Paolo Di Canio, was shown a red card for dissent early in the second half.

Juventus had taken an early lead through an own-goal from Gennaro Ruotolo, but Michele Padovano and Tomas Skuhravy, the Czech World Cup striker, turned the game round with two Genoa goals before Di Canio's departure, and Platt's late rescue act.

Milan maintained their 100 per cent record with a 2-0 home win over Atalanta. Daniele Massaro and Marco van Basten scored second-half goals for the champions; who left out van Basten's Dutch compatriot, Ruud Gullit, for a third successive league game.

For almost an hour, it looked as though Channel 4 had chosen a typical Serie A stalemate, after goals galore in their first two offerings. Then Matthias Sammer, the German international, and Salvatore Schillaci - who missed a late penalty - scored two in three minutes to put Internazionale in command at Napoli. Daniel Fonseca, who scored five at Valencia in the Uefa Cup in midweek, could only manage one for Napoli this time, a consolation six minutes from the end.

Fifa's attempts to arbitrate in the dispute that has delayed Diego Maradona's transfer from Napoli to Sevilla look likely to fail, after Napoli officials refused to meet their Spanish counterparts to resolve the affair at Fifa's headquarters in Zurich today.

ITALIAN LEAGUE: Brescia 1 (Raducioiu pen 53) Pescara 0; Cagliari 1 (Capiolli 74) Lazio 1 (Signori 83); Fiorentina 7 (Orlando 21, Di Mauro 34, 66, Laudrup 39, 73, Baiano 57, Lupi 76) Ancona 1 (Detari 16); Genoa 2 (Padovano 45, Skuhravy 57) Juventus 2 (Ruotolo og 15, Platt 73); Milan 2 (Massaro 57, van Basten 69) Atalanta 0; Napoli 1 (Fonseca 84) Internazionale 2 (Sammer 54, Schillaci 57); Roma 3 (Caniggia 17, Giannini 20, 60) Foggia 1 (De Vincenzo 71); Torino 3 (Aguilera 22, 44, Casagrande 65) Parma 0; Udinese 1 (Balbo 59) Sampdoria 2 (Jugovic 24, Lombardo 85).

----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts ----------------------------------------------------------------- Milan 3 3 0 0 8 4 6 Torino 3 2 1 0 7 1 5 Sampdoria 3 2 1 0 8 6 5 Fiorentina 3 1 2 0 10 4 4 Juventus 3 1 2 0 6 3 4 Inter 3 2 0 1 6 4 4 Brescia 3 1 2 0 1 0 4 Napoli 3 1 1 1 5 4 3 Roma 3 1 1 1 3 2 3 Lazio 3 0 3 0 6 6 3 Genoa 3 0 3 0 3 3 3 Udinese 3 1 0 2 7 8 2 Pescara 3 1 0 2 5 6 2 Parma 3 1 0 2 4 6 2 Cagliari 3 0 2 1 2 4 2 Atalanta 3 1 0 2 3 7 2 Foggia 3 0 0 3 3 8 0 Ancona 3 0 0 3 4 14 0 -----------------------------------------------------------------