Juve crushed as Roma keep heat on Milan

ANTONIO Cassano scored twice as AS Roma crushed Italian champions Juventus 4-0 last night to keep within five points of Serie A leaders AC Milan.

Third-placed Juve, who now trail Milan by eight points, had defender Paolo Montero sent off and striker David Trezeguet missed a penalty for Marcello Lippi's side.

Olivier Dacourt put Roma ahead in the 13th minute and then Francesco Totti made it 2-0 eight minutes after the break, scoring a penalty after Montero had fouled Antonio Cassano. Three minutes later Montero was dismissed after a crude foul on Totti and the game was all but over for Juve when Cassano made it 3-0 in the 71st minute.

Pierluigi Collina awarded Juve a penalty in the 74th minute but Trezeguet fired his shot straight at the legs of Roma keeper Ivan Pelizzoli.

Cassano completed a great night for Roma with a header from a Mancini cross five minutes from the end.

A stunning free-kick from Rui Costa and an Andrea Pirlo penalty gave AC Milan a 2-1 win over Perugia while rivals and fourth-placed Inter fell even further off the pace with a 2-2 draw at Sampdoria, despite leading twice through Christian Vieri.

An 85th-minute Cristiano Doni penalty equaliser for Sampdoria left Inter 15 points behind Milan and a Champions League qualifying spot looks their most realistic goal. Lazio are Inter's biggest threat to that fourth place after winning 3-0 at Parma through two Claudio Lopez goals.

Milan dominated possession against winless Perugia but had to wait until the 74th minute for the breakthrough. It came via a thundering free kick from Costa which crashed in off the underside of the crossbar.

Milan doubled their lead three minutes later when Pirlo converted a penalty after Perugia's Australian keeper Zeljko Kalac brought down Filippo Inzaghi Carlo Ancelotti's side suffered a late scare, though, when defender Giuseppe Pancaro was sent off for a foul Fusani and Salvatore Fresi converted the penalty.

Inter coach Alberto Zaccheroni made the surprising decision to leave Brazilian striker Adriano, who had scored four goals in his previous two games, on the bench but with Vieri back from injury Inter caused Sampdoria plenty of problems.

Inter led at the break thanks to a Vieri header from an Alvaro Recoba cross but Giacomo Cipriani pulled the home side level with a volley on the hour.

Four minutes later Vieri went close twice heading against the post then shooting narrowly wide but he looked to have decided the game in the 78th minute when he fired home after a scramble on the edge of the Sampdoria area.

Five minutes from the end, Fabio Cannavaro was harshly adjudged to have pushed over Cipriani and Doni smashed home the spot kick to give eighth-placed Sampdoria a point.

Lazio look back to form after they followed up their midweek win at Milan in the Italian Cup with a convincing victory over sixth-placed Parma. Lopez put the Rome side on their way with a penalty after Bernardo Corradi had been brought down and then Corradi set up his Lopez to strike home from close range in the 57th minute.

Lopez returned the compliment in the 65th finding Corradi's head with a pinpoint cross.

Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos struck to give Real Madrid a 2-1 win at home to Malaga on Saturday and keep the defending champions two points clear of in-form Valencia.

Real were briefly knocked off the top of the table with Valencia's easy 3-0 home win over Atletico Madrid in an early game on Saturday.

The result left Real needing to extend their perfect home league record, a challenge they met with far more trouble than expected.

Malaga, beaten 6-1 by Valencia last weekend, fell behind in the 25th minute when Ronaldo turned in a Michel Salgado cross for his 19th league goal of the season.

Roberto Carlos made it 2-0 with a cracking free kick just before the hour mark but Jose Juan Luque got Malaga back into the game with a well timed run and shot 15 minutes from the end.

Real had a few nervous moments but held on for a victory that keeps them top with 52 points from 23 matches.

Valencia's win, featuring two goals from Mista and an outstanding long-range strike from Vicente, left them in second spot.

Deportivo Coruna, with goals from Scaloni and Luque, stayed in the title hunt in Spain as they won 2-0 away to Albacete despite having defender Hector sent off in the 66th minute.

Hector was red-carded for bringing down Carlos Aranda in the area but the Albacete striker missed the ensuing penalty and Deportivo held on.

Victory for Depor kept them in third place with 46 points from 23 games.

Champions Bayern Munich beat Hanover 96 3-1 and moved up to second place in the Bundesliga despite finishing with 10 men.