Juventus rally

European round-up

GIANLUCA Vialli's goal gave defending champions Juventus a 2-1 comeback win over local rivals Torino in the Turin derby yesterday, reducing AC Milan's Italian Serie A lead to six points with six games left in the season.

Juventus welcomed back long-term injury casulaty Fabrizio Ravanelli to the line-up as they sought to close the gap on Milan, who drew 0-0 with seventh-placed Lazio of Rome.

All nine Serie A matches were played yesterday because of Easter Sunday, which is celebrated devoutly in Catholic Italy.

Juventus, who beat Nantes 2-0 on Wednesday in a Champions League semi- final first leg, trailed against Torino after 32 minutes from a goal by Ruggiero Rizzitelli. But Torino defender Sean Sogliano's own-goal leveled the match and Vialli angled a shot just inside the post in the 65th for Juve's fifth straight league win.

Third-placed Fiorentina also gained ground on Milan with a 6-4 win over Padova as Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta scored twice to move into a three-way tie for the title of league top-scorer. He joins Bari's Igor Protti and Lazio's Giuseppe Signori with 18 goals.

Internazionale, AC Parma and AS Roma - fourth, fifth and sixth in the standings - all won. Inter beat Cremonese 4-2 for their fifth away win in succession, with Paul Ince netting the first of Inter's goals; Parma edged out Napoli 1-0; and Roma beat Udinese 2-1.

In the other matches played Sampdoria of Genoa defeated Bari 2-0; Vicenza beat Atalanta of Bergamo 1-0; and Cagliari and Piacenza drew 0-0.

Barcelona, who face the leaders Atletico Madrid in Wednesday's Spanish Cup final, defend their unbeaten record against Real Sociedad aiming to cut back their rival's five-point lead. Atletico travel to Oviedo without the Argentine Diego Simeone, who was sent off for insulting the referee in last week's defeat in the Madrid derby.

The German title-contenders Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund both face a difficult Easter period as the Championship race moves into a decisive stage.

Bayern, who hold a two-point lead over Dortmund, need to put aside their disappointing 2-2 home draw with Barcelona in the Uefa Cup in midweek before a difficult visit to Borussia Monchengladbach today.

Bayern will face this evening's game without their suspended captain, Lothar Matthaus, and then host St Pauli on Wednesday.

Dortmund, who travel to relegation-threatened Cologne on Tuesday, will be without the German international Matthias Sammer, the defender Stefan Reuter and the veteran midfielder Michael Zorc.