Ruthless Juve restore five point lead in Italy

Juventus' forward Pavel Nedved (C) is embraced by his teammate Olivier Kapo and Mauro Camoranesi (L) after scoring against Chievo in their Serie A football match at Delle Alpi stadium in Turin. Juventus restored their five point lead at the top of Italy's Serie A with a resounding 3-0 home win over Chievo.

Juventus restored their five point lead at the top of Italy's Serie A with a resounding 3-0 home win over Chievo.

Defending champions AC Milan put the pressure on by closing to within two points of the pace-setters when they won at Sampdoria on Saturday, but Juve rose to the challenge, chalking up their eighth victory in nine matches.

Juventus have 25 points, while second-placed AC Milan have 20.

Lecce held on to third spot despite being thumped 4-0 away to Fiorentina, where Nigerian international Cristian Obodo was on target twice for the newly promoted Florence club who have won twice in succession since sacking coach Emiliano Mondonico last Monday.

Fiorentina rose to sixth place on 13 points, behind Inter Milan only on goal difference.

Sicilian side Messina ended a run of three straight defeats by coming from behind to beat local rivals Reggina 2-1.

Although not an authentic derby as such, the two towns are seperated by the sea, the Messina Strait, and are only 40 kilometres apart.

Messina's win moved them up to fourth on 14 points, one behind Lecce.

Roma, whose team bus was pelted with eggs by their own fans venting their anger over the club's recent slide, gave their supporters something to cheer about with a 5-1 thrashing of Cagliari in the capital.

Livorno won their third game in a row, a 2-1 victory at home to Brescia moving the Tuscany club further away from the relegation zone.

Juventus' forward Sweden Zlatan Ibrahimovic (L) clashes with Salvatore Lanna of Chievo during their Serie A football match at Delle Alpi stadium in Turin. Juventus restored their five point lead at the top of Italy's Serie A with a resounding 3-0 home win over Chievo.

Bottom club Atalanta drew 2-2 at fellow strugglers Parma, while Siena were held at home to Bologna. Later Sunday Udinese host Palermo.

Uruguayan striker Marcelo Zalayeta set Juve on their way in the 25th minute with a right-footed volley at the Delle Alpi stadium - his fourth goal in six games - before Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved increased their advantage with a superb 25-yard strike.

Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic compounded Chievo's misery 11 minutes from time, chesting down Lilian Thuram's long pass and firing on the turn past Luca Marchegiani.

Vincenzo Montella took his league tally to eight goals by netting twice for Roma in the final two minutes at the Olympic stadium.

Greek defender Traianos Dellas' diving header put Roma in front before Francesco Totti coverted a penalty, both goals coming inside the first six minutes.

Totti then missed a second spot-kick after David Suazo had pulled one back for the Sardinians.

Simone Perrotta grabbed Roma's third before Montella put the icing on the cake.

On Saturday, AC Milan defeat Sampdoria 1-0 in Genoa where Andriy Shevchenko scored the winner the day after becoming a father for the first time.

The 28-year-old Ukranian started on the substitutes' bench as he barely slept the night before having been present at the birth of his son Jordan, but he was introduced by coach Carlo Ancelotti 20 minutes into the second half.

Nine minutes later he scored his sixth goal of the season, pouncing on the rebound after Serginho's chip had been blocked by Sampdoria keeper Francesco Antonioli.

In Saturday's other match, Inter drew for the seventh time this season as Lazio snatched a point at the San Siro.

Adriano's seventh goal of the season 19 seconds after half time put Inter ahead only for Leonardo Jose Talamonti to head the equaliser six minutes from time.